Stephan Braun

 

Stephan Braun is considered one of the most interesting young musicians on the European jazz stage. Born in 1978 in Zeitz (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany). Graduated from the Hamburg University of Music and Theater, studied playing classical cello with Wolfgang Melchorn, jazz with Dieter Glawischnig, Lucas Lindholm and Fiete Felsch. In 2004-2006, he continued his jazz education in the University of the Arts in Berlin with Peter Weniger and David Friedman. Portraits” in the Moscow International House of Music.

 

Stephan Braun is a laureate of several national and international competitions. In 2000, together with the cellist and singer Anne-Christin Schwarz, he organized the duo deep strings that received the Jazz & Blues Award in Berlin (2004). Stephan is one of the founder of the jazz trio Kalao, which in 2010 won the International Jazz Competition in Bucharest.

 

Braun collaborates with such famous musicians as Chris Hinze, Monica Akihary, Manfred Weinberger, Don Thompson, Nils Landgren, Melody Gardot, Kristjan Randalu, Giora Feidman, Sergei Nakariakov, etc.; participates in projects of the Hamburg Drama Theater Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Big Band of the North German Radio station, Berliner Ensemble. The musician toured around the world with solo concerts, performed on such stages as the Vienna State Opera, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Olympia Hall in Paris. Participated in many jazz festivals, including in those Umbria, Montreal, Pori, the North Sea Jazz Festival, etc.; recorded over 20 CDs (he released his debut solo album in 2008).

 

Since 2014, Stephan Braun has been teaching at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media. He conducts international masterclasses for performers playing on various string instruments, teaches free improvisation and new modern play techniques.

 

Stephan Braun’s solo concerts or concerts of his trio or deep strings always mesmerize the viewers. Having completed his studies in classical music and jazz, he found his own way to express himself in improvisation. Today, Braun is one of the most accomplished improvisers on his instrument and most demanded as an invited (session) musician in various projects all over the world. At his solo concerts, Stephan uses sound amplifiers and electronic effects, demonstrates a wide stylistic diapason from baroque music to jazz standards (“My Favorite Things”, etc.), performs his own works. Stephan’s breathtaking techniques, sophistication of rhythmic patterns, melodic ingenuity — all this opens innovative ways of playing cello to listeners. For his first concert in Moscow Braun chose Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” as an object for improvisation and prepared arrangements of his favorite jazz standards, etc.