The ensemble Echo du Danube was founded by the Viennese gambist Christian Zincke. The name was originally the title of a collection of sonatas by the viola da gamba virtuoso Johann Schenck, which were published in 1709. Group members Martin Jopp (violin), Alexander Weimann (harpsichord/organ), Michael DÃŒcker (lute) and Christian Zincke are dedicated to the performance of seventeenth-century chamber music. Repertoire from earlier periods form another area of interest for the ensemble. For programmes with Baroque and Renaissance content, the group expands to include the psalterio (Elisabeth Seitz) and the harp (Johanna Seitz). Echo du Danube has performed for the Hessischen Rundfunk (Frankfurt), the Feste Musicali (Cologne) the Kelkheim Early Music Festival, the Brunnethaler Summer Concerts (Austria) the Crakow Festival (Poland), the Essaouira Festival (Morocco) and formed the continuo for the Frankfurt Opera's production of Monteverdi's Orfeo. The ensemble has made numerous radio recordings for German public radio (works by Jakob Richmann, August KÃŒhnel and Ernst Christian Hesse). Extensive research precedes the development of Echo du Danube's programmes. This painstaking and often tedious work is considered by the group to be a cultural responsibility through which sources of new inspiration can be found. The ensemble publishes newly discovered works for Walhall Edition.
