Christian Weidner
Born in 1976 in Kassel, Germany, and currently living in Berlin, Christian Weidner comes from a musical family. After several years of piano lessons, Weidner changed to alto saxophone and at 16 took his place in the Hessian State Youth Orchestra, and at 17 in the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO). He also began taking lessons from the well-known American saxophonist John Ruocco. Weidner began working with Gunter Hampel at the age of 18 and continued for the next eight years until 2002. In 1996 he received first prize at the “Jugend jazzt” with the jazz quintet Naima which he led from1993 until 1998. Weidner began his musical studies at the College for Music and Theatre in Hamburg and then continued as an Erasmus exchange student at the Royal Music School in Stockholm, Sweden. Weidner ended his studies in 2002 at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory for Music in Berlin. “I used my Diploma concert in early 2002 as an opportunity to devote the work with my trio which I formed in 2000 with Daniel Schröteler (dr) and Antonio Palesano (p) to a special theme, namely, the musical form of the mass. My involvement with the contents and forms of religious music was an inspiring encounter with my musical roots.” In addition, Christian Weidner designates his collaboration with Simon Stockhausen, John Schröder and Antonio Palesano as especially formative. In 1999 he travelled to New York to record a CD with Gunter Hampel and Nils Wogram and to study with Kenny Werner. “Kenny Werner’s ideas and suggestions were very inspiring and motivated me to reflect on particular musical approaches that especially takes into consideration a musician’s feeling for directness and lightness in his playing.” Weidner played with the German-French Jazz ensemble from 2001 to 2004, and had the opportunity to work with Albert Mangelsdorff. Weidner says about his debut CD Choral, which appeared on Pirouet in 2004, “It was the extension of the work that I had begun for my diploma concert. Once again I confronted the religious music tradition and worked on such music forms as the Gregorian chant, recitative, drone, and ostinato.” In 2009 Weidner formed his new quartet under his own name with Colin Vallon (p), Henning Sieverts (b), and Samuel Roher (dr). The group’s new CD The Inward Song will be released in November 2010 on Pirouet Records. “In the program that I have composed for this band I once again concentrated on traditional song form and clear tonality. At the same time, many of the pieces have a particular character or complexion, which engenders calm and allows one to perceive the instruments’ tonal nuances.” Since 1996 Christian Weidner has been teaching privately and in music schools. He has twice received the Berlin City Senate’s award—in 2001 with Antonis Anissegos’ band Amoebas, and in 2004 with the Stockhausen-Weidner Quartet.