Christoph Stiefel

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961, the pianist became a permanent band member of Andreas Vollenweider & Friends at the age of 23. He toured with the band through Europe, Australia, Japan and the USA from 1984 to 1989. Around the same time he decided to drop out of law school; he began to work on his own projects, with which he has already produced and published 16 CDs internationally.
After his earlier musical interests inspired him to create projects in world music, nujazz, fusion and even to compose a “classical” concerto for piano, two percussionists and string orchestra (world premiere in 1998), he turned intensively to jazz piano music and composition in the last 15 years.
He has become well known internationally over the last few years, in particular for his own compositional style through which he has created a contemporary type of jazz by using a compositional technique from the Middle Ages (isorhythm) and his music oscillates between intensive grooves and tonal color painting in a fascinating manner. For years, he fostered this compositional style, mostly in his Inner Language Trio, which manages the balancing act between precise conceptual work and unleashed improvisation with such aplomb as few other formations in the current jazz scene.
Stiefel’s extraordinary compositions as well as his special way of playing the piano have opened the doors to interesting new projects such as a duo performance with the Japanese dancer Hideto Heshiki, a duo with the vocalist Lisette Spinnler, the foundation of the septet Christoph Stiefel’s Isorhythm Orchestra along with several of the best Swiss and German jazz musicians as well as the new band, the Karl Seglem & Christoph Stiefel Group.
Since 2000, Christoph Stiefel has been an instructor for piano and keyboards in the Jazz Department at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2012, he received a cultural award – a one-year working grant – from the City of Zurich, called “Werkjahr Jazz.”