Dobrawa Czocher

Around the world, dreams have long fascinated artists and inspired their creative pursuits. How these fictions of the unconscious mind can feel both phantasmagorical and real, how they’re able to twist, bend and expand time itself, or the relation that they may carry to our waking life are questions that have inspired the likes of Debussy to Dalí to Kafka. Likewise, these musings have served as the starting point for Dobrawa Czocher’s debut album, fittingly titled DREAMSCAPES. For it, the Polish cellist and composer takes listeners on a journey through unconsciousness exploring through sound the mystical richness of reveries.

At the age of just 30, Czocher already has an accomplished career in music. After having graduated from two prestigious music universities – Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and Hochschule für Musik in Detmold – she went on to become a member of
Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and later the principal cellist of the Neue Philharmonie Berlin as well as the soloist at Szczecin Philharmonic. During those demanding years, Czocher acquired a deep understanding of the classical repertoire and excelled as a
leading cello player. It was together with good friend and fellow Pole pianist, Hania Rani, however, that Czocher first ventured into composition. The duo’s first collaborative project “Biała flaga” would go on to truly change the musician’s perspective from being solely concentrated on developing instrumental skills to wanting to express herself more freely and the resulting album was highly-acclaimed in Poland as well as catching the attention of critics abroad. This was followed by Czocher and Rani’s second album, “Inner Symphonies” which went on to be released by Deutsche Grammophon and achieve worldwide recognition. Apart from Czocher’s obvious
technical prowess with the cello, which she has been developing since age 7, it is the naturality with which she mixes philharmonic music with more alternative approaches to recording and sound that have really captured the public’s imagination so far. DREAMSCAPES showcases just how comfortable the cellist is at oscillating between classical and contemporary music, and it’s possible to hear within the music influences that range from Brahms to Philip Glass to GoGo Penguin. For the album, Czocher worked with German producer Niklas Paschburg, who employed layering techniques to lend a cinematic quality to the music.

Listen to Dobrawa Czocher

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