Roberto C. Détrée

About Roberto C. Détrée

Roberto Carlos Détrée was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1940. He played harmonica and recorder at the age of three, began to play accordion at eight and guitar at eleven, which he still plays today as a self-taught musician. From the beginning he was interested in jazz, and later in the 1950s in bossa nova, which broadened his understanding of harmony and rhythm. He came to Munich in 1966, where he performed in the "Song Parnass" and later also took over the programming of the cabaret stage. There he met Peter Michael Hamel, with whom, together with violist Uli Stranz, oboist Bob Eliscu and percussionist Charlie Campbell, he founded the improvisation group BETWEEN. Détrée invented instruments such as the “motocello” (live electronic monochord) the “sarangon” (live electronic resonance instrument) and in 1980 the “TEG” (Tuned Eco Generator). The “motocello” was used in the group BETWEEN and also by the French composer Luc Ferrari. The “sarangon found a place in Détrée's music for "Midsummer Night's Dream" in Dieter Dorn's production at the Munich Kammerspiele in 1978. The “TEG” made possible the solo record "Architectura Celestis" released by WERGO Spectrum and was also used in Détrée's music for "Leonce und Lena" (staged by Dieter Dorn) at the Munich Kammerspiele. From 1978 to 2002 he was musical director of the Münchner Kammerspiele and composed various film and television music.