Dr. phil. Uwe Steinmetz was born in Bremervörde/NDS in 1975 and studied saxophone, music theory and the history of jazz in Berlin, Bern, India and Boston and received his PhD from the University of Gothenburg (2021) on the musical language of religiously inspired jazz.
Uwe has been working as a composer, saxophonist and lecturer beyond the European perimeter since his school days and has received national and international scholarships and awards for his artistic work. As a soloist, he has released fourteen CDs under his own name and has composed for, among others, the British Fitzwilliam String Quartet, who premiered three of his works, the NDR Big Band and two-time Grammy winner Mads Tolling (violin), the Athesinus Consort Berlin and Eric Ericson's Kammerkor from Stockholm.
From 2008-2020 he taught saxophone and jazz and popular music history at the Rostock University of Music and from 2015 to 2023 he researched religious inspiration and identity in contemporary music at the Liturgy Institute of the VELKD at the University of Leipzig.
In addition to his concert activities, he is committed to linking jazz constructively with social and spiritual issues and challenges through the BlueChurch network, which he co-founded. He lives in Berlin with his wife Lauren Steinmetz and their three children.