STEPHAN KRAUSE-BANTZER IS A MULTIPERCUSSIONIST & COMPOSER. HIS WORK EXISTS WHERE RHYTHM LOSES ITS ORIGINAL FUNCTION & BECOMES A FORM OF LANGUAGE IN ITS OWN RIGHT: BETWEEN THEATRE, CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, JAZZ & PERFORMANCE.

IN HIS WORK, HE BRINGS TOGETHER CLASSICAL PERCUSSION WITH ELECTRONICS, FIELD RECORDINGS & SOUNDSCAPES – RECORDED, TRANSFORMED, LAYERED, RECOMPOSED. HE IS LESS INTERESTED IN THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN FORMS THAN IN THEIR DISSOLUTION: THE MOMENT WHEN SOUND BECOMES MOVEMENT, RHYTHM BECOMES MEANING – & A SINGLE BEAT BECOMES AN EVENT.

AS A MEMBER OF THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE ELBTONAL PERCUSSION & AS A LONG-STANDING THEATRE MUSICIAN, KRAUSE-BANTZER HAS PERFORMED AT VENUES INCLUDING THE THALIA THEATER, THE DEUTSCHES SCHAUSPIELHAUS HAMBURG & THE ST. PAULI THEATER. SINCE THE 2010/11 SEASON, HE HAS BEEN PRINCIPAL PERCUSSIONIST AT THE HANSA-THEATER. HIS WORK HAS TAKEN HIM TO STAGES & FESTIVALS ACROSS EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ASIA, NORTH, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA – FROM THE BERLIN THEATRE MEETING TO THE CHEKHOV FESTIVAL IN MOSCOW & THE SYDNEY FESTIVAL, AND TO THE BEIJING MUSIC FESTIVAL.

AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF HIS ARTISTIC WORK IS COMPOSITION – HERE, HE BRINGS TOGETHER HIS EXPERIENCE AS AN INTERPRETER, IMPROVISER & PERFORMER. KRAUSE-BANTZER WORKS ACROSS GENRES WITH ARTISTS & ENSEMBLES INCLUDING THE NDR BIG BAND, ENSEMBLE RESONANZ, THE HAMBURG STATE OPERA, THE NDR CHOIR, ETTA SCOLLO & ULRICH TUKUR.

ALONGSIDE HIS ARTISTIC WORK, STEPHAN KRAUSE-BANTZER HAS BEEN A PROFESSOR AT THE HAMBURG UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC & THEATRE SINCE 2022.