STEFAN HECKEL

Stefan Heckel was born in 1969 in Graz/Austria. He graduated with a Master in Jazz Piano from Graz Music University and continued to study at London’s Royal Academy of Music achieving a Postgraduate Performance Diploma with Merit in Jazz Composition. He has worked with Serbian bassist Nenad Vasilic (Balkan Band/Folk Songs), Irina Karamarkovic (Songs From Kosovo), Julian Argüelles and Christian Weber (Stefan Heckel Group), Frank Gratkowski, Maria Gstaettner/Aziz Sahmaoui (Lava), Mélange Oriental/Sounding Jerusalem, Otto Lechner’s Vienna Accordion Orchestra and Blaubauer. Winner of Composition Award of East Jerusalem’s Al Quds University and the Austrian Harry Pepl Jazz Award. Stefan teaches at the Graz Music University jazz department where he is currently deputy head of institute. He was chairman of the PJP (Pop&Jazz Platform) of AEC (European Association of Conservatoires) from 2011-2017 and is currently a member of the Diversity, Identity&Inclusion-Working Group within the AEC project Strengthening Music in Society (SMS).