Composer and pianist Stefan Schultze is one of the most multifaceted and original musicians to come out of the German jazz scene. A Berliner by choice, Schultze studied piano and composition in Cologne and in New York. He occupies the interface between new music, improvisation and jazz with which he has most definitely created his own style. His artistic projects cover a spectrum of compositions for small and large ensembles, from leading larger ensemble formations, to initiating and producing cultural-political music projects on national and international stages.
Stefan Schultze has founded and led a number of award-winning ensembles and worked with many important musicians and orchestras such as Tom Rainey, Herb Robertson, the Metropole Orchestra and the WDR Big Band. In 2015, Deutschlandfunk produced his album with the Chinese sheng soloist Wu Wei, followed by “Ted The Bellhop” in 2017. With long-term cooperation partners such as the Goethe Institute and the German Foreign Office, he has completed concert tours and residencies worldwide.
Besides his great passion for collective sounds, Schultze has been giving increasing focus to a number of solo projects, such as “The Pulsepusher Suite” for prepared piano. In 2018 he published his first well-received solo debut album “System Tribe” (WhyPlayJazz).
Stefan Schultze is the director of the Master’s program for Music Composition Contemporary Jazz at Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland and he is leading various university orchestras, master classes and workshops.
