Uwe Steinmetz - t.a.i.b.i.t.a.

VITA (short)

KURZE VITA

Uwe Steinmetz wurde 1975 in Bremervörde/NDS geboren und studierte Saxophon und Musiktheorie in Berlin, Bern, Indien und Boston. Wesentliche Einflüsse waren das Studium mit den Komponisten George Russell und den Saxophonisten Jerry Bergonzi, Joe Maneri, John Surman, Roscoe Mitchell, Bennie Golson, Michael Brecker und David Liebman, sowie Konzertreisen mit dem Bundesjugendjazzorchester unter der Leitung von Peter Herbolzheimer.

Er arbeitet als Komponist, Saxophonist und Dozent über das Europäische Umland hinaus in Indien, Äthiopien, Brasilien, Korea und den USA, war Stipendiat der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes und erhielt nationale und internationale Auszeichnungen für seine künstlerische Arbeit, u.a. den Theodor Fontane Preis 2000 vom Stiftungsverband der Deutschen Wissenschaft, und den Solisten- und Studiopreis beim Europäischen Jazzwettbewerb in Getxo 2001.

Uwe Steinmetz veröffentlichte bisher 16 CDs unter eigenem Namen und komponierte Oratorien, Kantaten und Kammermusik, u.a. für die NDR Big Band, das britische Fitzwilliam String Quartet, sowie Eric Ericsons Kammerkor aus Stockholm. Von 2008 – 2019 lehrte er Saxophon, Jazzgeschichte und Komposition an der Musikhochschule Rostock und forschte im Rahmen von einer Dissertation von 2015-2020 an der Universität Göteborg über das liturgische Potential von Jazz.

Steinmetz entwickelt seit 1999 liturgische Jazzformate in Kirchen und ist Mitbegründer des internationalen Netzwerkes bluechurch.ch. Seit 2015 ist er zudem Mitarbeiter am liturgiewissenschaftlichen Institut der VELKD bei der Universität Leipzig für Musik und Gottesdienst und erarbeitet gemeinsam mit dem Lutherischen Weltbund ein globales Achtliederbuch 2023.

Short CV

Saxophonist and composer Uwe Steinmetz was born in Bremervörde, a town in northern Germany, in 1975. His musical influences came mainly from the teachers he studied and performed with during his school years in Berlin, Bern, Madras and Boston as a scholarship winner of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation: John Surman, John Ruocco, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bob Mintzer, Michael Brecker, David Liebman, George Russell, Jerry Bergonzi and Cecil McBee among many others. He has performed his own music on four continents and in more than thirty countries and has received national and international awards for his artistic work, including the a double price as a soloist and band leader at the European Jazz Competition in Spain in 2001. He has released 16 CDs with his own music and has appeared on numerous jazz CDs as a solist.

Mr. Steinmetz’s compositions include works for choir, organ and chamber ensembles, string quartet and jazz orchestra. Since 2002 he has worked with the London-based Fitzwilliam String Quartet, who premiered three of his works. In his compositional work he often deals with biblical or theological themes and has appeared on panels, in books and television documentaries about improvised music, church music and theology. His latest premiered works included commissions for a cantata for 3000 singers and Eric Ericsons Kammerkor from Stockholm and an oratorio based on Milton's Paradise lost. As an educator, he has been giving Master Classes in many countries and is currently an associate professor for Saxophone and Improvisation at the Conservatory of Rostock at the Baltic Sea. Since 2015 he holds a research position at the German Liturgical Institute at the University of Leipzig for contemporary music and protestant worship.

As a Christian he seeks to increase the awareness that music and other art forms can help people discover a deeper, healing and reconciling truth in an increasingly fragmented society and participates as an artist in projects that foster and encourage intercultural dialogue and support civil peace-building efforts.

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