Lichtkünstler
Rolf Zavelberg, born in Bonn in 1959, is a resident of Cologne.
In 1994 he founded the agency „Aktivraum", to create a space for himself and others in which art projects can be realised. He organises and/or realises concerts, which are usually hard to classify with any given terms and in which elements of jazz, classical music and contemporary music can be found.
The first phase of his creative work is to 'tune' the spaces which are to be used according to their respective character, so that both the artists and the audience feel equally comfortable.
In order to achieve this he primarily uses light as well as, amongst other things, his own paintings (usually acrylics or mixed technique on canvas) and objects. It always holds true for him to capture and embrace the given factors of a place and to develop an overall concept for it. This includes the choice of the music which best corresponds to the tonal requirements and ambience of the place. The objective is to accomodate the wishes of the organisers, the possibilities of the venue and the artistic standards. Over the last years Rolf Zavelberg has been working intensively with Markus Stockhausen, who creates and shapes the musical part of the events with his particular competence. Rolf Zavelberg has been his manager for some years now. He has realised concerts on his own, with Markus Stockhausen and with other artists in places as diverse as different sized churches, a newly built water pipeline, an industry museum, in concert halls and in outdoor surroundings.
Rolf Zavelberg designs large and small stages for concerts and readings for different casts of characters, and creates installations and scenery, in which he grasps the live music with light and transforms it into images. One of the heights of his achievements was his collaboration on the concept and performance of „Abendglühen für Solotrompete und Posaunenchöre" (Evening glow for solo trumpet and trombone choir), which Markus Stockhausen had composed on his own for the opening evening of the Evangelic Church Day in Cologne in 2007. 1800 brass instruments were played in six different places on both sides of the Rhine. Markus Stockhausen played his solo trumpet over this. Because of the dimensions of the event's location (about 200 000 visitors were present), the realisation of this performance was also a technical challenge.
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