Marcus Schinkel Trio feat. Joscho Stephan + Costel Nitescu - Classic meets Gypsy

Beethoven heard the gypsy music of violinist Janos Bihari at the Congress of Vienna in 1814, was deeply impressed and was certainly also influenced by this rhythmic Hungarian music. Almost 200 years later, two great virtuosos of their instruments - gypsy guitarist Joscho Stephan and classical jazz pianist Marcus Schinkel - have joined forces to unite these contrasting styles. The two musicians met at the Dresden Jazz Days in 2015 and after a late-night session, the idea was born to combine classical and gypsy jazz with "Classic Meets Gypsy".

Joscho Stephan is "the future of gypsy jazz guitar" (Acoustic Guitar magazine) and one of the best-known young European representatives of this style. He has toured Australia, Europe and the USA with his trio, where he has even performed at the legendary New York jazz club Birdland and at Lincoln Center. He has also played with Pasquito D'Riviera, James Carter, Charlie Mariano and Helmut Eisel.

Marcus Schinkel is a pianist between jazz and classical music: "Ideas from the great classical composer Beethoven are interwoven with his own ideas to create a sensual listening pleasure". (STERN on the current CD "Crossover Beethoven") Performances with the trio in the Caribbean and Russia as well as for the German Embassy in Vietnam, currently in China in 2018. He has played with Grammy Award winner Ernie Watts, Markus Stockhausen, PeeWee Ellis, Frederik Köster, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and accompanied cabaret artist Nessi Tausendschön.

Wim de Vries is one of the best-known drummers in Europe. He was voted "Best Jazz Drummer Benelux 2018" by the Dutch Slagwerkkrant and is one half of the "Drumbassadors", with whom he performs at drum festivals around the world.

Fritz Roppel is a well-known bassist with the band Tango Fuego and is a master of both the classically bowed and the jazzy plucked double bass.

For the performance in Bonn, the fantastic Costel Nitescu will play the violin. Born in Romania and one of the best swing violinists in the world since the 1990s, he has long since moved the center of his life to the metropolis of gypsy music, Paris. Here he has worked with all the renowned virtuosos of the genre.

The program includes many classics: Mozart's "Figaro", Schumann's "Nachklänge aus dem Theater", Beethoven's "Wut über den verlorenen Groschen", Lizst's "Liebestraum", Debussy's "Reverie" and even the theme from Nino Rota's "The Godfather" - an exciting journey through music history, humorously moderated by Marcus Schinkel and Joscho Stephan. "Tradition is not the preservation of ashes, but the passing on of fire!" (Thomas More)