Michael Wollny
{{Short description|German jazz pianist and professor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Wollny
| image = Michael wollny 2010 (cropped).jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = Wollny in 2010
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|05|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = Schweinfurt, West Germany
| education = Hochschule für Musik Würzburg
| occupation = {{plainlist|
- Jazz pianist
- Academic teacher
}}
| organizations = {{plainlist|
- [em] (trio)
- Michael Wollny Trio
- Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig
}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
- Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik
- Echo Jazz
- Bayerischer Staatspreis für Musik
}}
}}
Michael Wollny (born 25 May 1978) is a German jazz pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. He has played with international musicians including Joachim Kühn, Tamar Halperin, Marius Neset, Andreas Schaerer, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani, and recorded award-winning albums. In his Michael Wollny Trio, he has played with percussionist {{ill|Eric Schaefer (jazz)|de|Eric Schaefer|lt=Eric Schaefer}} and bassist Tim Lefebvre.
Education
Wollny took piano and violin lessons at the Musikschule Schweinfurt and at the Hermann Zilcher Conservatory in Würzburg until 1997, successfully competing in the Jugend musiziert. He then studied at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg with {{ill|Chris Beier|de}}. He took the artistic diploma with distinction in 2002, and the master classes diploma in 2004. He also studied with John Taylor and Walter Norris.
Career
From 1998 to 2002, Wollny was a member of the touring {{ill|Bundesjazzorchester|de}}. He also played in a quartet led by {{ill|Hubert Winter|de}}. Wollny's debut album was recorded with Wolfgang Kriener and Joachim Leyh. Wollny has played with Heinz Sauer from 2001 both as a duo and in a quartet. He was also a member of the trio {{ill|em (trio)|de|em (Trio)|lt=[em]}}, with bassist Eva Kruse and percussionist {{ill|Eric Schaefer (jazz)|de|Eric Schaefer|lt=Eric Schaefer}}. He recorded CDs as a member of the group Young Friends (Great German Songbook, 2005), with Winter (Different Kind of Stories, 2003), with {{ill|Hans-Peter Salentin|de}} (Beyond Your Thoughts, Sound of Silence), and with Nils Landgren (The Moon, The Stars and You, 2011), among others. He was a regular pianist at the Staatstheater Nürnberg and the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 1999.
In 2005 Wollny signed a contract with the label ACT Music + Vision on which he released several albums with his trio and in collaboration with other artists, such as Sauer and Nils Landgren. In 2007 he released his first solo album Hexentanz. In 2014 his trio, now with bassist Tim Lefebvre, recorded the album Weltentraum,[https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/album-der-woche/album-der-woche-michael-wollny-ueberquert-die-grenze-schliesst-den-graben-12800645.html Überquert die Grenze, schließt den Graben!] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 14. Februar 2014 which made the pop charts.[http://www.nmz.de/online/popstar-des-jazz-michael-wollny-mit-nachtfahrten-auf-erfolgskurs Popstar des Jazz: Michael Wollny mit «Nachtfahrten» auf Erfolgskurs] Neue Musikzeitung 1 October 2015[https://www.offiziellecharts.de/suche?artist_search=Michael+Wollny+Trio&do_search=do Chartdiskografie Deutschland] A review in The Guardian noted "They are one of the world's great jazz-driven piano trios, and Nachtfahrten takes nothing away from this assessment." In 2017, he was an artist in residence (Fokus Jazz: Michael Wollny) of the Rheingau Musik Festival, interviewed in a Rendezvous, and playing three concerts, improvising with Marius Neset in the first, with vocalist Andreas Schaerer, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani in the second, and finally with his trio and the Norwegian Wind Ensemble.
Since 2014 Wollny has lived with his family in Leipzig, where he is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig.
Awards
File:Michael wollny 2 2010.jpg
Wollny has been awarded several scholarships and prizes, including the cultural prize of Schweinfurt in 2003, and in 2005 both the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (for Melancholia with Heinz Sauer) and the Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis. He received the Choc de l'annee 2006 from the French magazine Jazzman (for Certain Beauty with Heinz Sauer), the Jazzpreis of the Nürnberger Nachrichten in 2007, and in 2008 the {{ill|SWR Jazz Prize|de|SWR-Jazzpreis}}, again with Heinz Sauer. He was awarded the Echo Jazz in the category Instrumentalist/in des Jahres national - Piano/Keyboards in 2010 when the prize was awarded for the first time.
The trio received Ronnie Scott's Jazz Award as Most Promising International Newcomer of the Year in London in May 2007. In 2011, they received the {{ill|Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis|de}} (as a band, and for Wollny as the best soloist), and the Echo Jazz in the category Ensemble des Jahres national.[http://www.echojazz.de/jazz-hintergrund/ Echo Jazz Hintergrund] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425200653/http://www.echojazz.de/jazz-hintergrund/ |date=2018-04-25 }} (retrieved 29 December 2017) In 2013, Wollny received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his album Don't Explain – Live in Concert with Heinz Sauer, and the {{ill|Bayerischer Staatspreis für Musik|de}}.[http://www.bayern.de/neuer-bayerischer-staatspreis-fuer-musik/ Neuer Bayerischer Staatspreis für Musik] Bavaria 12 April 2013 The trio received the Echo Jazz as ensemble of the year. Wollny and Sauer were awarded the {{ill|Binding Culture Prize|de|Binding-Kulturpreis}} in 2013.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24. August 2013 In 2015 and 2016 he was again awarded the Echo Jazz.
Discography
File:Michael-wollny-2009-ffm-015.jpg
Recordings with Wollny have included:
- Wollny / Kriener / Leyh: CDNR3 (2001)
- Heinz Sauer / Michael Wollny: Melancholia (2004)
- Young Friends: Great German Song Book (2005)
- Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer: Call it [em] (2005)
- Heinz Sauer / Michael Wollny: Certain Beauty (2006)
- Michael Wollny: Piano Works VII: Hexentanz (2007)
- Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer: [em] 3 (2008)
- Joachim Kühn / Michael Wollny: live at Schloss Elmau (2009)
- Michael Wollny / Tamar Halperin: Wunderkammer (2009)
- Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer: [em] LIVE (2010)
- Nils Landgren: The Moon, the Stars and You, with Richard Galliano, Lars Danielsson, Joe Sample, Michael Wollny, Rasmus Kihlberg, Steve Gadd & Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (2011)
- Nils Landgren / Michael Wollny: Fragile At Schloss Elmau (2011)
- Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer: [em] Wasted & Wanted (2012)
- Heinz Sauer / Michael Wollny: Don't Explain - Live in Concert (2013)
- Iiro Rantala / Leszek Możdżer / Michael Wollny: Jazz at Berlin Philharmonie I (2013)
- Vincent Peirani with Michael Wollny & Michel Benita: Thrill Box (2013)
- Michael Wollny Trio: Weltentraum (2014) (2014: Goldene Schallplatte, Jazz Award),[http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/#topSearch Gold-/Platin-Datenbank des Bundesverbandes Musikindustrie, Abruf vom 11. November 2015] Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik)
- Michael Wollny with Christian Weber and Eric Schaefer: Nachtfahrten (2015) (2015: Gold, Deutschland, Jazz Award)
- Michael Wollny Trio in Concert: Klangspuren (2016)
- Michael Wollny & Vincent Peirani: Tandem (2016)
- Michael Wollny Trio feat. The Norwegian Wind Ensemble and Geir Lysne: Oslo (2018)
- Michael Wollny Trio: Wartburg (2018)
- Michael Wollny: Mondenkind (2020)
- Michael Wollny with Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre & Christian Lillinger: XXXX (2021)
- Michael Wollny / Joachim Kühn: Duo (2024)
References
{{reflist
| refs =
| last = Dotzauer
| first = Gregor
| url = http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/michael-wollny-und-vincent-peirani-duo-ingeniale/14614578.html
| title = Michael Wollny & Vincent Peirani Duo ingeniale
| newspaper = Der Tagesspiegel
| date = 29 September 2016
| language = German
| accessdate = 2 September 2017
}}
| last = Fordham
| first = John
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/29/michael-wollny-nachtfahrten-review-melancholy-wanderings-through-jazz
| title = Michael Wollny: Nachtfahrten review – melancholy wanderings through jazz
| newspaper = The Guardian
| date = 29 October 2015
| accessdate = 2 September 2017
}}
| last = Michalzik
| first = Stefan
| url = http://www.fr.de/kultur/musik/michael-wollny-zarte-finesse-koboldhafter-furor-a-1337924
| title = Zarte Finesse, koboldhafter Furor / Gegen den fabelhaften Michael Wollny & Friends kann es in Wiesbaden keine Einwände geben.
| newspaper = Frankfurter Rundschau
| date = 25 August 2017
| language = German
| accessdate = 2 September 2017
}}
| url = http://airartistagency.com/web/tl_files/air/artists/Michael_Wollney/biogs/Factsheet%20Michael%20Wollny%202008.pdf
| title = Michael Wollny / Factsheet
| publisher = airartistagency.com
| year = 2008
| accessdate = 17 September 2017
}}
| url = http://www.hmt-leipzig.de/home/fachrichtungen/jazz-popularmusik/lehrende-jazz/index_html?id=2330
| title = Prof. Michael Wollny
| publisher = Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig
| year = 2017
| language = German
| accessdate = 2 September 2017
}}
|url = http://alt.hfm-wuerzburg.de/de/home/news/echo-fuer-michael-wollny.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170918022133/http://alt.hfm-wuerzburg.de/de/home/news/echo-fuer-michael-wollny.html
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 18 September 2017
|title = Echo für Michael Wollny
|publisher = Musikhochschule Würzburg
|date = 13 April 2013
|language = German
|accessdate = 17 September 2017
}}
| url = https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Michael+Wollny/0/30695.html
| title = Michael Wollny / deutscher Jazzpianist; Prof.
| publisher = Munzinger
| year = 2017
| language = German
| accessdate = 17 September 2017
}}
| url = http://www.hmt-leipzig.de/home/fachrichtungen/jazz-popularmusik/lehrende-jazz/index_html?id=2330
| title = Preisträger des ersten Echo Jazz stehen fest
| publisher = Neue Musikzeitung
| date = 17 March 2010
| language = German
| accessdate = 17 September 2017
}}
|url = https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/programm/die-themen-des-festivalsommers-2017/
|title = Die Themen des Festivalsommers 2017 / Fokus Jazz: Michael Wollny
|publisher = Rheingau Musik Festival
|year = 2017
|language = German
|accessdate = 2 September 2017
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20170902183228/https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/programm/die-themen-des-festivalsommers-2017/
|archivedate = 2 September 2017
}}
}}
External links
- [http://michaelwollny.com/ Official website]
- {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p838665}}
- {{discogs artist}}
- [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/googlesearch.php?cx=005595936876858408448%3Ahfhqnzuknl8&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Michael+Wollny&sa=Search#825 Michael Wollny] at All About Jazz
- [http://www.thejazzmann.com/artists/profile/michael-wollny/ Profile] at www.thejazzman.com
- [https://www.actmusic.com/Kuenstler/Michael-Wollny/Biografie Michael Wollny / Biografie] (in German) ACT
- [http://www.em-trio.de Wollny / Kruse / Schaefer]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wollny, Michael}}
Category:German jazz composers
Category:German male jazz composers
Category:Academic staff of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig
Category:People from Schweinfurt
Category:21st-century German pianists