About Michael Hagmeier Music

Didj Music offers three distinct performance formats, depending on the setting and the kind of listening experience you want:

• Solo (didjeridu + optional voice and frame drum): In my solo didjeridu performances, I play a mix of composed pieces and long improvisations. I include cultural information and context for the instrument, as well as 5 - 10 minute explanation of various playing techniques, and the different sounds that are made with those techniques. Hearing different sounds in isolation helps the audience members experience the music more fully.

• 3rd Millennium World’s Fair (small ensemble): Original multi-genre music with elements of world music, jazz, rock, folk, and classical. This project is best appreciated in a concert setting. The ensemble can perform as a duo, trio, or quartet.

• Synonym Grill (folk rock duo): A duo performing original songs along with select covers from the 60s and 70s—often adding the twist of didjeridu to many of the songs. My partner is singer-songwriter Kevin Renick, best known for his song “Up in the Air,” which plays at the end of the film Up in the Air.

I moved to St. Louis in 2013 and soon after started 3rd Millennium World’s Fair, an ensemble created to perform new pieces I composed to honor the St. Louis area, along with selected earlier works. The project began as an ad hoc group with rotating lineups and has included Colleen O’Shea Jones (flute), Abbie Steiliing (violin), Hannah Frey (violin), and Meghan Yankowskas (clarinet).

In January 2018, the ensemble formalized a lineup with Hannah Frey (violin/viola) and Meghan Yankowskas (clarinet). Our first album, Friends and Places, was released in September 2019. Since then we’ve added Kelly Austermann (clarinet), and we can perform as a duo, trio, or quartet.

While living in St. Louis, I’ve performed at St. Lou Fringe, Tavern of Fine Arts, Compton Heights Christian Church, and other venues. I’ve also shared the stage with St. Louis musicians including Mark Holland & Autumns Child, Kevin Renick, members of the Perseid String Quartet, members of the Illumine Ensemble, and I’ve participated in old-time jams at Civil Life Brewing Company.

I’ve recorded and released two solo CDs. The first, Didjeridu Ecstasy, was recorded at a studio in the temperate rainforest near Yachats, Oregon. For fans of unadulterated didjeridu, nine of the twelve tracks feature solo didjeridu; the other three blend Middle Eastern percussion with didjeridu.

My second CD, Organically Grown, features didjeridu blended with a variety of instruments. Musicians with backgrounds in jazz, bluegrass, classical, Native American flute, and Middle Eastern music came together to improvise pieces that create a unique world-jazz sound.