Spanish, Latin American, Oriental and Classical music and dance
“ForteFlamenco” is the duo of flamenco dancer Yamuna Henriques and pianist and concert organist Kerstin Wolf. They interpret music from the 17th century to the present day. Communication, intuition and innovation make their art unique. The dance follows the music, the music follows the dance - a symbiosis of interpretation and improvisation.
Yamuna Henriques' roots lie in flamenco dance, Kerstin Wolf's in classical music. The vision of their work is the connection of their artistic origins. They interpret classical, Spanish, Latin American and oriental music. Their intuitive ability to communicate with each other shapes the duo's personal style and brings their joint art to life.
The artists draw on a comprehensive repertoire. Yamuna Henriques breaks away from traditional flamenco and incorporates new elements from modern, folkloristic and classical dance. Kerstin Wolf expands her enormous baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary repertoire to include the musical art of flamenco. As an experienced musician, she reinterprets flamenco in combination with Yamuna Henriques. These impulses give rise to improvisations and compositions.
From Bach to flamenco – the artists present the universality of music and dance.
Repertoire: Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ad Wammes, Jehan Alain, Louis Vierne, Mozart, Albéniz, Turina, Surinach, Gurdjieff/de Hoffmann, Gulda, Debussy, Rutter, Rodrigo, Fazil Say and others.
Kerstin Wolf
Kerstin Wolf works as a soloist and chamber music pianist and concert organist at home and abroad. Her concert activities have taken her to Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Denmark. She studied organ and piano at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg.
After completing her organ diploma with Prof. Gerhard Dickel, St. Michaelis, Hamburg, she completed her concert exam with Prof. Wolfgang Zerer with distinction. After studying piano with Prof. August Leopolder, Frankfurt, she completed her studies with a piano diploma with Prof. Marian Migdal at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg.
She was a scholarship holder of the Hamburg Patriotic Society and the Budge and Beitstiftung. She intensified her training in master classes with Prof. Graf, Vienna and Prof. Wolf, Salzburg at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Ben van Oosten, Thierry Escaich and Peter Planyavsky at the Haarlem Organ Academy. She deepened her studies in organ improvisation with Manuel Gera, Wolfgang Seifen, Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim, Jos van der Kooy, Hayo Boerema, Philippe Lefebvre and others.
She has a teaching position in organ at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg and is a regular guest with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra at symphony concerts as a pianist, celesta player and organist.
In February 2017 a CD “Play it cool!” was released. with works by the Dutch composer Ad Wammes on the Querstand label, which Kerstin Wolf recorded with Joost de Nooijer, Rotterdam at the Mühleisen/Marcussen organ in St. Johannis in Hamburg-Harvestehude.
From 2017-2020 she worked as second organist at the main church of St. Jacobi in Hamburg and leads the organ tours at the Arp Schnitger organ every Thursday at 12 p.m.
Yamuna Henriques
The German-Portuguese Yamuna Henriques was born and raised in Hamburg and began dancing flamenco in her early years. In 2010 she moved to Seville (Spain), where she began her dance training at the “Fundación Christina Heeren”. From 2011 she worked there on an annual scholarship as a “monitora” (temporary assistant), teacher (beginners) and in the accompaniment courses for singing and guitar, with, among others, Pedro Sierra, La Divi, Pedro Sánchez and Paco Cortés. She took lessons with Milagros Mejíbar, Javier Barón, Ursula Lopez, Antonio Molina “El Choro”, Ana Morales, José Galván, Ramón Martínez and many more.
In 2011/2012 she had her first international teaching and concert experiences in Japan, where she played on two tours with guitarists Kentaro and Kojiro Tokunaga and taught in various flamenco studios.
From 2012 she became a dancer with the “Compañia Flamenco Ruta”, led by the Chilean Gabriel Aragú, with whom she performed in Melilla, Granada, Seville and Murcia, among others. At the same time she danced in tablaos and concerts as a soloist in the “Compañia José Galván”, e.g. in the Teatro Alameda” and “La Caja Negra”.
In 2013/2014/2015 she also worked in the tablao “La Casa de la Memoria” and in “Milangritos”. During these years she played many concerts nationally and internationally in Lithuania (Brigita Bublyte's project “Flamenco & sutartines”), France, Germany, Palestina (Festival 100 Years of Jericho), Portugal, Japan and Spain. In 2015 she returned to Germany, where she began teaching in Hamburg and throughout Germany.
The focus of her work is participating in various festivals, e.g. “Small Festival in the Big Garden” (Hannover), “Night of the Churches” and concerts. Since 2018 she has been working with the pianist and organist Kerstin Wolf in the duo “Die mit der Wolf dances”, which expands her dance style and incorporates new elements from classical dance, jazz and modern dance.
