Christoph Sietzen
Percussion
Christoph Sietzen is one of the outstanding percussionists of his generation. Acclaimed by the press as a “rare talent” and praised for his “refreshing musical naturalness, technical mastery and dazzling feeling as well as... powerful stage presence,” he was a prize winner at, among others, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, named a “Rising Star” by the European Concert Hall Organisation and will perform at the most important concert halls in Europe during the 2017/2018 season.
After making his debut at the Salzburg Festival as a twelve-year-old, Christoph Sietzen already began to teach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna when only 22. Born into a Luxembourgian family in Salzburg in 1992, Christoph Sietzen studied marimba with Bogdan Bácanu and percussion with Leonhard Schmidinger and Josef Gumpinger at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, where he earned two Master’s degrees with highest honors. In order to immerse himself in the study of Baroque music, Christoph Sietzen also studied string bass and harpsichord.
Christoph Sietzen has appeared as a guest artist at several of the world’s most important concert halls, among them the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Large Festival Hall Salzburg, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Konzerthaus Berlin, at Munich’s Herkulessaal and at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. He performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and Cologne’s WDR Funkhausorchester and with fellow concert artists such as Bodgan Bácanu, Peter Sadlo, Martin Grubinger, Emmanuel Séjourné and Momoko Kamiya.
Composers such as Alexander Mullenbach, Alexander Wagendristel, Jakob Gruchmann and Ivan Boumanns have dedicated compositions to Christoph Sietzen. The co-founder and drummer of the band The Police, Stewart Copeland, who has also created over 60 TV and movie soundtracks, has been commissioned to compose a new work for Christoph Sietzen to perform on his ECHO Rising Stars concert tour. Christoph Sietzen regularly teaches master classes as far afield as Japan, China, Spain, Portugal, Romania and the Netherlands.
His discography includes recordings as a member of The Wave Quartet marimba ensemble beginning with the ensemble’s debut CD released in 2008, followed in 2009 by a recording of all three concertos for two harpsichords by Johann Sebastian Bach arranged for marimba. Arrangements of Baroque works have played an important part in the repertoire of The Wave Quartet and were also included in the third recording by the ensemble released in 2011. Winner of the Supersonic Award, the CD Loco was released on GENUIN classics in 2016 and features arrangements of works by Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel and Rodrigo y Gabriela.
The November 2016 release, Lauda Concertata, includes a concerto for marimba and orchestra composed especially for the quartet, which was given its premiere performance at the Brucknerhaus Linz in the spring of 2017. Christoph Sietzen is an endorser of the Dutch instrument maker Adams Musical Instruments.
Picture: Daniel Delang
The artist's homepage: 
www.christophsietzen.com
Christoph Sietzen is one of the outstanding percussionists of his generation. Acclaimed by the press as a “rare talent” and praised for his “refreshing musical naturalness, technical mastery and dazzling feeling as well as... powerful stage presence,” he was a prize winner at, among others, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, named a “Rising Star” by the European Concert Hall Organisation and will perform at the most important concert halls in Europe during the 2017/2018 season.
After making his debut at the Salzburg Festival as a twelve-year-old, Christoph Sietzen already began to teach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna when only 22. Born into a Luxembourgian family in Salzburg in 1992, Christoph Sietzen studied marimba with Bogdan Bácanu and percussion with Leonhard Schmidinger and Josef Gumpinger at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, where he earned two Master’s degrees with highest honors. In order to immerse himself in the study of Baroque music, Christoph Sietzen also studied string bass and harpsichord.
Christoph Sietzen has appeared as a guest artist at several of the world’s most important concert halls, among them the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Large Festival Hall Salzburg, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Konzerthaus Berlin, at Munich’s Herkulessaal and at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. He performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and Cologne’s WDR Funkhausorchester and with fellow concert artists such as Bodgan Bácanu, Peter Sadlo, Martin Grubinger, Emmanuel Séjourné and Momoko Kamiya.
Composers such as Alexander Mullenbach, Alexander Wagendristel, Jakob Gruchmann and Ivan Boumanns have dedicated compositions to Christoph Sietzen. The co-founder and drummer of the band The Police, Stewart Copeland, who has also created over 60 TV and movie soundtracks, has been commissioned to compose a new work for Christoph Sietzen to perform on his ECHO Rising Stars concert tour. Christoph Sietzen regularly teaches master classes as far afield as Japan, China, Spain, Portugal, Romania and the Netherlands.
His discography includes recordings as a member of The Wave Quartet marimba ensemble beginning with the ensemble’s debut CD released in 2008, followed in 2009 by a recording of all three concertos for two harpsichords by Johann Sebastian Bach arranged for marimba. Arrangements of Baroque works have played an important part in the repertoire of The Wave Quartet and were also included in the third recording by the ensemble released in 2011. Winner of the Supersonic Award, the CD Loco was released on GENUIN classics in 2016 and features arrangements of works by Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel and Rodrigo y Gabriela.
The November 2016 release, Lauda Concertata, includes a concerto for marimba and orchestra composed especially for the quartet, which was given its premiere performance at the Brucknerhaus Linz in the spring of 2017. Christoph Sietzen is an endorser of the Dutch instrument maker Adams Musical Instruments.
Picture: Daniel Delang
The artist's homepage: www.christophsietzen.com
CDs released by GENUIN
with Christoph Sietzen
Attraction
Werke von Emmanuel Séjourné, Iannis Xenakis, Arvo Pärt, Andrew Thomas, Bruce Hamilton und John Psathas
GEN 17455 – 2.6.2017