It was a great honor to perform with legendary musicians on the legendary stage of Porgy & Bess in Vienna on the 19th of January 2026.
FLAMMeS feat. Josef Ka & Franz Koglmann
“Cold Song – Winter in Flames!”
A live performance inspired by Henry Purcell’s Cold Song (1691).
Josef Ka — performance
Franz Koglmann — trumpet, flugelhorn
Lukas Schiske — drums, percussion
Andreas Donhauser — guitar, trumpet, synthesizer, vocals
Silvia Deixler — guitar
Max Bühlmann — saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Michael Mautner — keyboards, synthesizer
Many thanks to Walter Ulreich @walterulreich for the beautiful photographs. Photos of the poster: Mark Maher, Josef Ka. Special thanks: Alaa Alkurdi
How the Impro-Band FLAMMeS banish winter with Purcell
The sextet around flugelhornist Franz Koglmann spiced up their January gig at Porgy & Bess with a dash of performance art
Ronald Pohl January 20, 2026, 1:57 PM
No one has set the painful awakening from the depths of emotional icy cold to music more convincingly than Henry Purcell in “Cold Song.” A hit from the Baroque opera King Arthur, a halting rejection of any thaw. It takes a true expert in “cool” to banish the terrors of ice and darkness with particular effectiveness.
Franz Koglmann, a local flugelhornist and champion of modern jazz, approaches Purcell’s winter spirit at Vienna’s Porgy & Bess in bespoke English shoes, with a muted instrument. The improvisation collective FLAMMeS invited the audience to a ritual in Vienna’s Riemergasse. The idea was to expertly expel the frost with the twig broom of performance art. To gently warm the cold, they slipped a few new chords beneath the icy aria.
The ensuing chirping and string strumming prevented any glaciation. The noise art of the sextet FLAMMeS has since long given way to a give and take at the highest level of interaction. Under the guidance of initiator Michael Mautner (keyboards), deliberately orchestrated patterns of chance emerge—no contradiction there. Acoustic teeming scenes unfold, in which bassist/guitarist Andreas Donhauser urges the others on with trumpet blasts, continuing “attacca.” If the particles of noise do settle, Koglmann stoically plays his lines, sparkling with clarity and intellectual detachment.
Brass and Paint
The Winter Spirit (“Cold Genius”) itself was embodied by the performance artist Josef Ka. Completely naked, she climbed the Porgy stage step by step, to the sustained Stockhausen chord of the Purcell disciples, wearing nothing but the gold chains of love. And while Max Bühlmann’s bass clarinet still tooted furiously, Sleep’s sister doused herself with the paint from an iron bowl. Thereupon, Kafka’s reincarnation lay down to rest before everyone’s eyes. Winter does not have the last word; the wonderful FLAMMeS continue to play.
(Ronald Pohl, January 20, 2026)
