Simon Kintopp founded Franziskus in December 2015. Since then the ensemble strives to overcome musical limits to abolish the separation of through-composed, classical music and improvised, rhythmical jazz.
The music is a floating transition of styles: A composition of John Dowland melts with another one of Charles Mingus, Arvo Pärt is dancing on a waltz of Woody Shaw and the compositions and arrangements of Simon Kintopp are influenced by artists like Vince Mendoza, Avishai Cohen, Leo Tolstoj, Dimitrij Shostakowitsch, Kenny Wheeler, the surrealists - as well as by a cook like Jamie Oliver
Because Franziskus is a big cooking: The strings are far more then a decorative sound background, the bass is not just accompanying and the singer not always got the melody – in the compositions the instruments merge together to a equivalent collective.
Despite the size, the music of the ensemble stays transparent and it´s entertaining without loosing its high artistic standart. Melodic, acoustic and manual music – for an audience with aesthetical expectations and an ear for details.
Franziskus combines the subtle sincerity of classical music and the rooted exuberance of jazz.
After playing already a couple of concerts, f.e. at the „Jazzwerkstatt Graz Shortcuts Festival“ (November 2016), the „Ö1 / WDR3 Jazznacht“ (Dezember 2016), a „Spring Tour 2017“ with concerts in Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Villach and Maribor (SLO) and at the „Jazzwerkstatt Graz Festival Vol.12“ (April 2018), the ensemble released its debut album some sang a song on the 15th of October 2018 with the label Session Work Records (Vienna).
