Beat Keller (CH)
beatkeller.com
Guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader based in Winterthur, Switzerland.
Beat Keller is amongst the important Swiss musicians in the field of experimental and improvised music. Through the exploration of extended playing techniques, guitar tunings and the use of an electric feedbacker guitar, he has developed a unique musical language.
Beat Keller has played together with many major exponents of the Swiss and international scenes and performs regularly around the world at festivals and renowned concert venues. Concert tours have taken him across the whole of Europe, to the USA, Asia and Southern Africa.
As a composer, Beat Keller has, so far, mainly achieved recognition with Keller’s 10, the Haiku String Trio and the NDR Big Band. The CD releases by Keller’s 10 (“Keller’s 10” in 2008 and “TWO” in 2013) as well as by the Haiku String Trio (2016) were enthusiastically received by international press and critically acclaimed as excellent (among others in Concerto, Jazz‘n’more and Cadence Magazine). Keller’s 10’s debut album won “Best Debut Release 2008 (worldwide)” awarded by the American magazine All About Jazz.
Beat Keller is currently a member of the groups Cao-Keller-Siedl (VN, CH, AT), Rough Cave (CH), Bowee-Keller (CH), Tilo Weber’s Animate Repose (DE), Keller’s 10, Gunfire Orchestra (SA, NO, CH) as well as Jason Kahn // Beat Keller (US, CH).
Educational background:
Teaching diploma for jazz guitar from Zurich University of the Arts, CH
Master of Arts in Composition from the Lucerne School of Music, Jazz Department, CH
Sponsorship prizes and awards:
- Best Debut Release 2008 (worldwide) for Keller’s 10 awarded by All About Jazz, New York
- Sponsorship Award of the City of Winterthur, 2010
- Artist-in-Residence, Pro Helvetia, Cape Town/South Africa, 2012 & 2016
- Moods Jazz & Blues Award 2013: second prize for Keller’s 10
- Artist-in-Residence, canton of Zurich, Berlin/Germany, 2014/2015
- “Förderbeitrag 2018” from the Canton of Thurgau
Gregor Siedl (AT)
gregorsiedl.com
Gregor Siedl is currently based in Vienna, Austria. He is engaged in the field of sound art, experimental music theater and projects crossing genres and disciplines. His works could be seen as a by-product of an on-going process of self-recognition. His main interest is in exploration of sound and visuals, their form, their correlation and the way they are perceived. Recent projects have lead him to research ancient rituals, artificial intelligence, „natural radio“ emissions and DIY electronics. He is an active member of the experimental music scenes in Berlin, Vienna and Brussels.
He is a founding member of the long term collaboration Siedl/Cao, Junk Orbit, Parallel Asteroid, ZICLA, DOKO and Osmosis Project. He has performed all over Europe, Middle-East, Asia and South-America at international music festivals and concert venues, such as: Festival Ankunft Neue Musik Berlin, HdKW Berlin, Festival Internacional de Musica Experimental Sao Paulo, Follow the sound Festival Antwerpen, Storm!-Festival, LeXGiornate Milan, Porgy&Bess Vienna, Ftarri Tokyo, EnvironmentZeroGauge Osaka, Dotolim Seoul, Estonian Academy of music, Improvised Music Co. Dublin and more.
Cao Thanh Lan (VN)
caothanhlan.com
Lan (first name) was born 1987 in Hanoi, Vietnam. She works in the fields of contemporary instrumental and electronic music, sound art and music theatre. She is the scholarship holder of Startstipendium 2018 from the Austrian Federal Chancellery. She was trained as a classical contemporary music pianist in Köln (with Pierre-Laurent Aimard) and Brussels, but recently she has focused mostly on her own compositions and sound installations, experimenting with modular synthesizers, prepared marxophone/zither, self-built electronics, various objects, etc.
Active as a sound artist, improviser, composer in Berlin, Vienna and Hanoi in many different projects, notably the composer-performer Duo Siedl/Cao – in collaboration with Gregor Siedl, she has been touring and giving workshops for contemporary music and improvisation in Europe, Japan, Brasil, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Her works have been released on labels Impakt, Moloko Plus, Flaming Pines, Off Record, Acefalo Records and Syrphe. She has performed at Ars Electronica Linz, Emittermicro Berlin, Flux Festival Berlin, Brechtfestival Augsburg, FIME festival for experimental music in Sao Paulo Brazil, Hanoi New Music Festival, Strom Festival Cologne, Festival Frischzelle Cologne, PhonoFemme Vienna, Sonic Territories Vienna etc.
As a guest pianist/performer of Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin (KNM Ensemble), she has performed at Ultraschall Festival Berlin, Musica Electronica Nova Wroclaw, Poesiefestival Berlin, etc. She has earned a wide range of solo and ensemble experience in contemporary music festivals namely Darmstadt Festival for new music, Festival Ircam Paris@Manifest and in festival academies such as Klangspuren – Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, Impuls Festival – Ensemble Klangforum Vienna, etc.
cao keller siedl 