The trio formed in 2002. Its debut album Ballades and Barricades was awarded German Record Critics’ Award (“Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”) in jazz category.

The trio has earned acclaim with projects dedicated to Hanns Eisler, the 20th-century German composer, friend of Bertolt Brecht and Ernst Busch. In performing Eisler’s schlagers and less known melodies Das Kapital takes special approach – charmingly linking past and today it ‘translates’ H. Eisler’s cabaret, Hollywood and patriotic songs into the language of the 21st century. In Das Kapital’s interpretation these songs sound like relevant political or economic commentaries. However, there is not a hint of pathos.

The group fascinates with warm and roguish approach to Eisler’s music, peculiar combination of intimacy, soft irony and frantic energy of free jazz; natural synthesis of composed and spontaneous, popular and complex music.

Recently, Das Kapital has been performing Eisler solely. Its latest album Conflicts & Conclusions is dedicated to the composer. Eisler’s projects have taken the trio to various festivals and jazz clubs. The trio plans to continue the marathon next year.

For Vilnius Jazz the musicians have designed a special project. The trio’s appearance will crown the series “Culture Horizons 2020. Cultural Practices in the Digital Age”, organised by the Goethe Institute, French Institute and the National Gallery of Art and dedicated to the association between contemporary technologies and artistic as well as cultural phenomena.

Video artist Aurelija Maknytė has designed a video score enriching Das Kapital’s music.

“I swapped violin for video camera and combined images while listening to Das Kapital’s improvisations”, said the video artist remembering music making in her school years. “Thus sometimes my view will slip through dark interiors, and there will be moments when the images will marsh ironically as the wind band in the song festival”.

“When working with music I usually look for images that would not compete with the sound”, said Maknytė. “It is not easy, for the magic of the screen always affects the listener and tries to turn him/her into a viewer. The solution is to create minimalist images, which would discretely fill up the space behind the musicians, or try to become the music-making-team member carefully blending in rhythm and melody of the music fabric.”

“I did not create a formula that would turn the listener into a viewer, but I do hope, that after the concert the listener will hear the music while looking at those images. For music is a not only sound. For jazz is not only music”.

French Jazz Magazine named the saxophonist Daniel Erdmann one of the most inventive players on the international scene. He has played saxophone since the age 10. In 1994–1999, he studied at the College of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin, and received a grant from the French German Cultural Council in 2001. Since then he has shuttled between Paris and Berlin.

Erdmann has appeared in a number of international jazz festivals including the major ones in Berlin, Paris, New York, Lisbon and Rotterdam. He can be heard on numerous CDs. Under his own name he has released two CDs on Enja Records with his current band Erdmann 3000.

Erdmann has worked with Aki Takase, Ed Schuller, John Schröder, Linda Sharrock, Joachim Kühn, Yves Robert, Conny Bauer, Gebhard Ullmann, Frank Möbus, Herb Robertson, Tony Buck, Axel Dörner, John Betsch, Rudi Mahall, Pierre Dörge, Joe Williamson, Peter Kowald, Chris Dahlgren and many more. He is also working with choreographer Joshua Bisset, and filmmakers Nicolas Humbert and Martin Otter.

Hasse Poulsen was born in Copenhagen. In 1997, he moved to Paris. He finds this city a very inspiring and easy to make a career. Fond of experiments the guitarist is bombarded with propositions. He also works with Carta Bianca In Clusone, Invisible Correspondance, Sound of Choice and Speeq.

French percussionist Edward Perraud intrigues not only thanks to his expressivity and resourceful palette of expression means, but also wide horizon and musical ambition. He is not only percussion virtuoso, but also a composer and musicologist.

Perraud explored classical, contemporary, Indian music, jazz and free improvisation; he is also not indifferent to alternative rock. The percussionist appears on a number of recordings. In 2005, he established Quark Records, which releases the albums of Das Kapital.

Perraud has collaborated with Paul Rogers, Dan Warburton, John Butcher, John Edwards, Johannes Bauer, Michel Portal, Vincent Courtois, Daunik Lazro, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Didier Petit, Camel Zekri, Lucias Recio, Olivier Benoit, Peter Scherr, Marc Helias and other celebrated European and American music personalities.