Christoph Sietzen is one of the outstanding percussionists of his generation. Acclaimed by the press as a “rare talent” and praised for his “refreshing musical naturalness, technical mastery and dazzling feeling as well as ... powerful stage presence,” he was a prize winner at, among others, the International ARD Music Competition in Munich, named a Rising Star by the European Concert Hall Organisation and will perform at the most important concert halls in Europe during the 2017/2018 season. After making his debut at the Salzburg Festival as a twelve-year-old, Christoph Sietzen already began to teach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna when only 22.
"Dieser junge Mann beherrscht die seltene Kunst, auf seinem Schlagwerk zu singen – und bewirkt eine Revolution für das Marimbafon." Robert Fraunhofer - Rondo Magazin
"Schon bevor Christoph Sietzen einen Ton gespielt hatte, war der Zuhörer von dem natürlichen Auftreten des Schlagwerkers eingenommen. (...) Man wusste oft nicht, was man mehr bewundern sollte, die Akrobatik, mit der er die Finger, Hände und Arme so schnell durcheinander wirbeln ließ, dass das Auge Mühe hatte, ihre Bahnen zu verfolgen, oder die dynamischen Abstufungen, die vom nur noch ahnbaren ppp bis hin zum harten und grellen fff reichten, oder die Verschiedenheit der Klangfarben. (...) Für seine artistischen Kunststücke, seine Fähigkeiten, raffinierteste Klangmixturen und Rhythmuskombinationen zu erzeugen, erntete Christoph Sietzen stürmischen Applaus." Armin Kansteiner - Westfalen-Blatt
"Junger Wirbelwind umarmt die Welt - Zwischen den scharfkantigen Dialogen von Marimba und Trommeln des Anfangs und dem vom Philharmonischen Orchester brillant begleiteten Final-Swing hatte die klirrende Intimität des Mittelsatzes hohen ästhetischen Reiz. Am Ende war das Publikum ganz aus dem Häuschen. Und Sietzen bedankte sich am Marimbaphon mit einem argentinischen Walzer, den er mit der dynamischen und agogischen Finesse eines Pianisten vortrug. Grandios!" Sebastian Loskant - Nordsee-Zeitung
: BIOGRAPHY
Christoph Sietzen is one of the outstanding percussionists of his generation. Acclaimed by the press as a “rare talent” and praised for his “refreshing musical naturalness, technical mastery and dazzling feeling as well as ... powerful stage presence,” he was a prize winner at, among others, the International ARD Music Competition in Munich, named a Rising Star by the European Concert Hall Organisation and will perform at the most important concert halls in Europe during the 2017/2018 season. After making his debut at the Salzburg Festival as a twelve-year-old, Christoph Sietzen already began to teach at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna when only 22.
Born into a Luxembourgian family in Salzburg in 1992, Christoph Sietzen studied marimba with Bogdan Bacanu and percussion with Leonhard Schmidinger and Josef Gumpinger at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, where he earned a Master's degree with highest honors. In order to immerse himself in the study of Baroque music, Christoph Sietzen also studied string bass and harpsichord.CS Bio
Christoph Sietzen has appeared as a guest artist at several of the world's most important concert halls, among them the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Salzburg Festival hall, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Berlin's Konzerthaus, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest and at Munich's Herkulessaal. He performed with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and Cologne's WDR Funkhausorchester and with fellow concert artists Peter Sadlo, Martin Grubinger, Bogdan Bácanu, Emmanuel Séjourné and Momoko Kamiya.
Christoph Sietzen has won many competitions, including ten First Prizes and many Special Prizes at Austria’s youth music competition “prima la musica,” the Raiffeisen Classic Award of the Mozarteum,including a Special Achievement Prize, and Third Prize at the 2006 International Marimba Competition. In 2016, he also gained international recognitionby appearing on the “Stars of Tomorrow” show hosted by Rolando Villázon on arte.
Composers such as Alexander Mullenbach, Alexander Wagendristel, Jakob Gruchmann and Ivan Boumanns have dedicated compositions to Christoph Sietzen. The co-founder and drummer of the band The Police, Stewart Copeland, who has also created over 60 TV and movie soundtracks, has been commissioned to compose a new work for Christoph Sietzen to perform on his ECHO Rising Stars concert tour. Christoph Sietzen regularly teaches master classes as far afield as Japan, China, Spain, Portugal, Romania and Holland.
His discography includes recordings as a member of The Wave Quartet marimba ensemble beginning with the ensemble's debut CD released in 2008, followed in 2009 by a recording of all three concertos for two harpsichords by Johann Sebastian Bach arranged for marimba. Arrangements of Baroque works have played an important part in the repertoire of The Wave Quartet and were also included in the third recording by the ensemble released in 2011. Winner of the Supersonic Award, the CD Loco was released on GENUIN classics in 2016 and features arrangements of works by Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel and Rodrigo y Gabriela. The November 2016 release, Lauda Concertata, includes a concerto for marimba and orchestra composed especially for the quartet, which was given its premiere performance at the Brucknerhaus Linz in the spring of 2017. In the end of 2017 Sony Classical will release the quartet's recording of Bach harpsichords concerti with the L'Orfeo Barockorchester and Michi Gaigg.
His solo debut CD, including world premiere recordings of Arvo Pärt and Emmanuel Séjourné, was released in June 2017 on Genuin classics.
Christoph Sietzen is an endorser of the Dutch instrument maker Adams Musical Instruments.
