Wolfgang Schmidtke

Wolfgang Schmidtke, saxophonist/composer has been working in the field of contemporary music since the 1980s, touring and creating productions with a wide range of musicians, including the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, the rock drummer Ginger Baker and the jazz pianist Horace Parlan. He has produced three CDs with his orchestra, the Wolfgang Schmidtke Orchestra, most recently a live recording with the RBB of Schmidtke’s arrangements of music by Thelonious Monk on the occasion of Monk’s 100th birthday. He is co-leader of the Jazzpool NRW and has given concerts with this ensemble in Moscow, Milan, Lisbon, Paris, Prague, London, Athens, Glasgow, Vienna, Krakow etc. Recurring collaborations with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, including as curator of the music programmes for several dance festivals, as musician/composer for “Underground”, and as a member of the orchestra in “Don’t be afraid”. Several productions for WDR in a variety of styles, most recently, in 2020, “Birdhoven’s Birthday Party”, a blend of music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Charlie Parker.

Wolfgang Schmidtke and Jan Kazda with their band “Das Pferd” at the German Jazz Festival Frankfurt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f20DAYWmAxw

Wuppertal jazz workshop – a quintet with Wolfgang Schmidtke and Peter Brötzmann at a concert in the Jazzschmiede Dusseldorf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlPkrJAus

The Jazzpool NRW with Wolfgang Schmidtke at a concert in Catania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POzEt6BIHRI