Musical Belongings VIII: Genghis Lab

Badarch Bat-Orshikh is a solo musician and educator specializing in the traditional Mongolian string instrument, the Joochin. He holds a master’s degree in arts studies and has built a distinguished career as both a performer and teacher. After working with several renowned Mongolian ensembles, he joined the Mongolian National University of Arts and Culture as a lecturer in 1999. His artistic work includes concert performances and recordings such as Tenger Ayalguu and Mongol Quintet. In recognition of his contributions to music and cultural education, he has received numerous awards and honors.

Tsevegsuren Tserenbaljir is a limbe player, art historian, and associate professor. Since 1999, he has taught at the Mongolian National University of Arts and Culture, where he has held various leadership positions and currently serves as dean of the Faculty of Music. As a musician, he has premiered numerous works for the Mongolian limbe and released two solo albums. In addition, he has published several scholarly books and initiated cultural and research projects in collaboration with UNESCO and other institutions. He has received national and international awards for his contributions to culture and education.

Jurmeddorj Nordog is a horn player, Tsuur performer, and music educator with a master’s degree in arts studies. After early positions at the Music and Drama Theatre of Ömnögovi Province and with the ensemble of the Mongolian State Railway, he joined the National Academic Theatre of Mongolia as a solo musician in 2001. Since 2012, he has also taught traditional wind instruments at the Mongolian National University of Arts and Culture. His artistic work includes numerous concert, album, and film productions, among them Tenger Ayalguu and The Call of the French Horn. In recognition of his achievements as a performer and educator, he has received several awards and distinctions.

Munkh-Erdene Erdenebat is an Ikh Khuur player and a member of the ensemble Tenger Ayalguu. Since 2017, he has performed as a musician with the National Theatre of Arts of Mongolia. His repertoire includes concerts, music theatre productions, and dance dramas such as Legend of the Sun and Whispers of Mountains and Waters. As both a soloist and ensemble performer, he regularly appears in national and international productions. His artistic achievements have earned him several accolades, including the Grand Prix at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition & Festa.

Temuujin Purevkhüü is a Morin Khuur player, Khoomii vocalist, and university lecturer. He holds two master’s degrees and completed doctoral studies at Yeungnam University in South Korea. Since 2009, he has taught traditional music at the Mongolian National University of Arts and Culture while also performing as a member of the ensemble Tenger Ayalguu. His repertoire encompasses more than 200 works from Mongolian, classical, and international musical traditions. He is particularly known for his pioneering work in combining overtone singing (Khoomii) with the Morin Khuur in contemporary performance practice.

Oyuntuya Enkhbat is a yatga player, soloist, and composer with a master’s degree in traditional arts. She also studied at the Korea National University of Arts, specializing in the Korean string instrument gayageum. Over the course of her career, she founded the Kharkhorum Traditional Music Ensemble and has performed in various ensembles and orchestras. She has performed internationally as a soloist and has contributed as an arranger and composer to projects such as the animated film Wings.

Kh. Erdenetsetseg was born in Delgertsogt, Dundgovi Province, Mongolia. An acclaimed practitioner of Urtiin Duu, Mongolia’s traditional long-song tradition, she has dedicated her career to preserving and promoting this unique vocal heritage both nationally and internationally.

Nomin-Erdene is a Mongolian choreographer, movement researcher, and dancer with 17 years of professional experience. She graduated from the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture with a degree in Dance Education and worked as a lead dancer with the Tumen Ekh Ensemble. She later served as a choreographer for the Suld Ensemble and the Jaahan Sharga Theatre. Her artistic practice combines traditional Mongolian movement vocabulary with contemporary and modern dance forms. Her work has been presented at international festivals, stage productions, animated musical films, and a wide range of cultural projects both in Mongolia and abroad.

Enkhchimeg was born in Mongolia, where she began her professional journey in dance. In 2005, she completed her training as a dancer with a focus on folk dance and classical ballet. She then joined the Mongolian State Academic Dance Ensemble, performing at numerous prestigious international festivals and stage productions until 2009. From 2009 to 2014, she studied at the renowned Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg, earning both a Bachelor’s degree in Ballet Pedagogy and a Master’s degree in Choreography. After returning to Mongolia, she worked as a ballet teacher and later headed the Department of Classical Ballet at the Mongolian State Conservatory. Since 2020, Enkhchimeg has been living in Germany. In Dresden, she teaches Mongolian dance at the Ger School of the Ger Association, contributing to the preservation and transmission of Mongolia’s rich dance traditions and cultural heritage. In 2024, she was certified as a Pilates instructor by the German Pilates Association. Today, she works independently as a dance teacher, dancer, and Pilates instructor.

Bolor Bat-Erdene is a Mongolian professional dancer with a background in choreography. She graduated from the Mongolian Conservatory with a specialization in dance and holds a bachelor’s degree in Choreography and Directing from the Mongolian University of Culture and Arts. She performed with the Mongolian Grand Theatre of National Art for six years. She is currently continuing her artistic development and studying contemporary dance at the Centre for Contemporary Dance at the University of Music and Dance Cologne, Germany.

Doreen Kutzke, also known as Kutzkelina, is a musician, vocal composer, and actress based in Berlin. Raised in the forests of the Harz region in the former East Germany, she has been deeply engaged with the human voice since early childhood. Her artistic practice focuses on yodeling, voice breaking, and traditional vocal techniques, combining traditional vocal music with experimental composition and contemporary performance. She is the founder of the Jodelschule Kreuzberg, where she teaches yodeling and extended vocal techniques, and works internationally as a performer and vocal educator.

Laila Salome Fischer is a versatile mezzo-soprano whose expressive timbre and remarkable stylistic range have earned her acclaim in opera, concert performance, and crossover productions alike. She gained international recognition through performances with Jordi Savall at venues and festivals including the Beethovenfest Bonn and the Philharmonie de Paris, as well as through her acclaimed recordings Talkin’ about Barbara and Scenes of Horror, both of which received multiple nominations for the Opus Klassik Award. Her engagements have taken her to renowned musical institutions and festivals such as the Bregenz Festival, the Handel Festivals in Halle and Göttingen, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Bachfest Leipzig, the Herrenchiemsee Festival, the Vienna Musikverein, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Mecklenburg State Theatre Schwerin. There, she celebrated a major success in the 2025/26 season as Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Alongside her singing career, she creates innovative concert formats that connect historical music with new sonic perspectives, often accompanying herself on the ukulele. In the 2026/27 season, she appears as Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel at the Staatsoperette Dresden and as Marylou in Märchen im Grandhotel at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Gun-Ayurzana was born in 1970 in Bayankhongor, Mongolia. From 1988 to 1994, he studied at the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow, Russia, where he earned a Master’s degree in Literature with a specialization in Creative Writing. Following his studies, he worked as a journalist for Ardyn Erkh, Mongolia’s largest daily newspaper, from 1994 to 2000. Since then, he has pursued a career as a freelance writer. In 2007, he participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in the United States. He lives in Ulaanbaatar with his wife and their three children. To date, his literary oeuvre comprises ten volumes of poetry, three short story collections, three novellas, and eight full-length novels.

Ulziitugs Luvsandorj was born in 1972 in Darkhan, Mongolia. From 1990 to 1994, she studied at the University of Mongolian Knowledge in Ulaanbaatar. She began her professional career as a journalist for the daily newspaper Ardyn Erkh, where she worked from 1994 to 1996. She then served as editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Ochigdor from 1996 to 2000. In 2004, she earned a Master’s degree in Arts from the Mongolian National University of Education. Since 2000, she has worked as a freelance writer and lives in Ulaanbaatar. To date, she has published fourteen books, including nine poetry collections and five works of fiction and non-fiction.

Bolorma Algaa is a curator, art researcher, and educator based in Mongolia. Her work focuses on contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and artistic research, with a particular interest in the relationship between perception, artistic experience, and cultural context. She has curated and organized numerous exhibitions at major art institutions and independent galleries in Mongolia, collaborating with both established and emerging artists. In addition to her curatorial practice, she coordinates international cultural exchange and academic mobility programs that connect Mongolian artists and students with European art institutions. She is currently pursuing doctoral research in art studies, exploring perception and artistic experience through phenomenological approaches.

Johanni Curtet is a musician, throat-singer, composer, ethnomusicologist, and teacher specializing in Mongolian khöömii (throat-singing). Trained in classical guitar and chamber music, he later studied khöömii with renowned masters in Mongolia and has taught the art form at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2008. In recognition of his contribution to cultural exchange between Mongolia and France, he was awarded Mongolia’s Friendship Medal (Nairamdal). His artistic work bridges diverse musical traditions and has led to collaborations with artists from over 20 countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since 2006, he has served as Artistic Director of the NGO Routes Nomades, producing concerts, tours, recordings, and cultural projects focused on Mongolian music. Holding a PhD in ethnomusicology, he lectures at the University of Rennes 2 and has published extensively on the history and transmission of khöömii. He also contributed to the successful UNESCO inscription of Mongolian throat-singing as Intangible Cultural Heritage and co-produced the acclaimed Anthology of Mongolian Khöömii. Alongside his academic and performance work, he is an award-nominated film composer whose scores include If Only I Could Hibernate, the first Mongolian film selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.

Uuganbaatar Tsend-Ochir (Uugan) was born in 1970 in Mandalgobi, the capital of Dundgobi Province in central Mongolia, and grew up in a nomadic environment. He began playing the guitar at the age of fifteen and started his professional career in 1988 as an orchestral musician and double bassist at the Music Theatre in Dalanzadgad in the South Gobi. From 1992 to 1996, he studied as a master student at the Mongolian State University of Culture and Arts in Ulaanbaatar, specializing in Ikh Khuur (the Mongolian bass fiddle), music theory, and music education. After graduating, he joined the university as a lecturer in double bass and worked as an accompanist for ensemble courses. At the same time, he performed as an orchestral musician with the Mongolian National Academic Song and Dance Ensemble. From 1998 to 2022, Uugan was a core member of the renowned ensemble Egschiglen, taking part in numerous international concert tours and music projects across Europe and around the world. He established himself as a double bassist, Ikh Khuur player, and arranger known for creating intercultural musical connections. Since 2013, he has also developed a strong interest in music production and recording studio work, gaining extensive experience in the field. In 2023, he co-founded the ensemble Tengerton, where he serves as a founding member and musical director.

Christian Filips is a poet, music dramaturge, director and translator. He studied philosophy, literature and musicology in Vienna and Berlin. Since 2006 he has been working as a freelance author, director and music dramaturge for the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, for the lautten compagney BERLIN and for the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, among others. As a music dramaturge, he specializes in hybrid formats combining early and contemporary music, literature, performance and action art. As a theater maker, he has developed immersive productions for urban space together with partners in Mumbai and Nairobi. As a translator, he collaborated with the Arab-German collective WIESE (Wie es ist) / مرج (for Hamburger Bahnhof, among others). Filips is currently working with poets Logan February (Nigeria) and Lionel Fogarty (Australia) on the project POESIE DEKOLONIE with Engeler Verlag. The first volume published was “Mental Voodoo: Gedichte“ by Logan February. In April 2023 he curated the festival for world literature POETICA 8 at the University of Cologne. In August 2023, he received the Erlangen Literature Prize for Poetry in Translation. Most recently, the poetry collection Im Traum die Auskunft sagt: Hier! Selected poems 1996-2022 was published by Engeler Verlag.

A lutenist by training, Wolfgang Katschner founded the lautten compagney BERLIN together with Hans-Werner Apel in 1984, the centrepiece of his multifaceted work as a musician, organiser and researcher in the sound worlds of “early music”.

On CDs, Wolfgang Katschner and his ensemble present themselves as border crossers; alongside world premiere recordings of operas such as “Didone abbandonata” are unusual combinations of composers: Philipp Glass and Tarquinio Merula (“Timeless”), Heinrich Schütz and Friedrich Hollaender (“War & Peace”) and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Astor Piazzolla (“Misterio”). Each of these programmes stands for the conviction that “early” music is just as modern as music written later and, once one steps out of one’s self-imposed isolation as a musician of “early” music, can be combined with modern repertoire in an extremely profitable way for musicians and audiences alike.

For some years now, Wolfgang Katschner has also been successfully appearing as a guest conductor at German opera houses. In 2012-2016 he was musical director of the Winter in Schwetzingen; after guest appearances in Bonn (Handel’s “Rinaldo” and “Giulio Cesare”) and Oldenburg (Hasse’s “Siroe”), he was responsible for several opera productions at the Nuremberg State Theatre: “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria”, “Serse”, “La Calisto” and “Bajazet”. Most recently, Katschner conducted Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” at the Semperoper Dresden and Antonio Cestis “L’Orontea” at the Theater an der Wien.

Wolfgang Katschner is also increasingly involved in the training of young artists. He was a guest professor at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, at the Sing-Fest in Hong Kong, artist in residence at BarockVokal in Mainz and worked with singers at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar in 2018 and 2019.

Ensemble: Matthjis Lunenburg (cornett), Martin Ripper (recorder), Annette Rheinfurth (bass), Peter Bauer (percussion), Katharina Arendt (violin), Wolfgang Katschner (lute / musical director), Hans-Werner Apel (lute), Daniel Trumbull (harpsichord, organ)

The lautten compagney BERLIN, conducted by Wolfgang Katschner, is one of the most renowned early music orchestras. In the 39 years since its founding in 1984, it has thrilled music lovers around the world. In fall 2019, it was awarded the OPUS Klassik as Ensemble of the Year. With concerts, opera performances, and crossover projects, it sets unique musical accents. The ensemble is one of the few independent producers of music theater projects in Germany. It is appreciated by audiences and national and international arts critics alike for its unusual and innovative programs. In addition to its performances in Berlin, lautten compagney tours Germany, Europe, and the world with approximately 100 concerts per year. Its most recent major tours outside Europe took it to ten cities in China in 2019 and to Bogotá in Colombia in the fall of 2021. At the Semperoper in Dresden, lautten compagney recently celebrated the acclaimed premiere of Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” as the first guest ensemble in the theater’s recent history.

The lautten compagney cultivates musical traditions as an important part of its program spectrum with major repertoire works. Wolfgang Katschner and his ensemble are not only curious about music, but also about new ways of presenting it in concert. The lautten compagney has found its own individual platform for experimentation in the form of the :lounge, among other things. Here it demonstrates that early music and contemporary music can indeed be combined. In the :lounge, live sampling and sounds enrich the timbres of the Baroque instruments and provide space for surprising improvisations. When old works are inspired by new ideas in this way, musical boundaries disappear.

lautten compagney BERLIN

lautten compagney BERLIN – YouTube