Elias Stemeseder

(Austria)

piano solo

[Focus: Europe]

This concert is part of “GRAND OPENING: Haus of Jazz”

Pianist Elias Stemeseder (*1990) belongs to the youngest generation of internationally acknowledged piano greats like Alexander Hawkins, Eve Risser or Kit Downes. Both in Europe and intercontinentally, he has made a place for himself in the topmost league of free improvisation. We are tempted to cite an impressive list of references and those who want to find out for themselves will be astonished. As a Berlin-based Austrian, he is respected in the New York scene and as an Austrian from New York, the same goes for the scene in Berlin. For him, ‘free’ seems to mean being free in bringing together the heterogeneous, ‘simply’ letting it happen rather than creating a demonstratively violent deconstruction, and giving space to his particularly engaging melodic motifs. On the opening night of this year’s Jazzfest, this delicate and creative spirit will be the connecting thread between KIM Collective and Exploding Star Orchestra, performing on a grand piano in a rare soliloquy.