Timo Vollbrecht

Timo Vollbrecht was born in Lower Saxony and studied saxophone at the Jazz Institute in Berlin and at New York University. His teachers included Mark Turner, Joe Lovano and Stefon Harris. He performed with Branford Marsalis at the Village Vanguard and played with Kenny Werner, Randy Brecker, Carlos Bica, Mike Mainieri and pop icon Robbie Williams. In addition, he has been celebrated in numerous international media and the New York jazz bible Hot House presented him as Featured Artists Of The Month. He regularly plays for tours for the Goethe-Institut and has performed at the Winter Jazz Fest New York, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blue Note and Jazzwoche Burghausen. He has also written music for dance for the Emergences Festival in Luxembourg and composed a string quartet for the renowned New York JACK Quartet. He is Adjunct Professor of Jazz Studies at NYU and wrote his doctoral thesis on the artistic process of ECM Records producer Manfred Eicher.

Elias Stemeseder was born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1990 and studied jazz piano at the Jazz Institute in Berlin. There he was taught by Greg Cohen and John Hollenbeck, among others. Since 2008, he has been working closely with the New York avant-garde drummer Jim Black. With Philipp Gropper’s band “Philm” he won the German Jazz Award 2021 as national band of the year.

Guitarist Keisuke Matsuno is a true sound artist. Born in Berlin to Japanese parents, he studied guitar at the music academies in Weimar, Lucerne and New York and has made a name for himself on the international music scene with his talent for creating soundscapes. Since moving to New York in 2010, he has worked with a number of exciting artists: With John Zorn, he performed his Bagatelles collection at the Village Vanguard and played with Jim Black’s Guitar Quartet at the National Sawdust, The Stone and other New York clubs. He also collaborates with electronic artist Lars Graugaard and was featured in Misaki Matsui’s short film “With Kenji and Keisuke”. Blow Up magazine described him as “most extravagant, mind-blowing, and unheard-within-the-unheard.”

Dayeon Seok is an internationally sought-after drummer who has made a name for herself in the New York jazz and improvisation scene through her work with Dave Douglas, Michaël Attias, Ralph Alessi and Adam O’Farrill. She grew up in South Korea and began her musical career as a classical pianist before switching to drums. She received her bachelor’s degree in jazz drums at Berklee College of Music in the USA, followed by a master’s degree at New York University. She can be heard on numerous albums, such as the release “Mute” by her own ensemble (Fresh Sound New Talent Label, 2018). Since 2021 she has been a professor of jazz drums at the Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts in South Korea. In her progressive sound, she combines deep roots in the jazz tradition with an almost boundless power of innovation.