Gerhard Ornig - Trumpet:

Versatile, award-winning austrian trumpet player, composer, arranger and music educator. Currently living and working in Graz.

Gerhard studied at “Conservatorium van Amsterdam” (NL) and “Manhattan School of Music”, New York as well as Kunstuniversität Graz in Austria.

He is a regular member in Ed Partyka Jazzorchestra, Vincent Veneman 10, Jazzorchester Steiermark, Void Quintett, Concept Art Orchestra, Ranning Sushi, Sound Pollution Eclectic, Sina Shaari…

In 2015 Gerhard got awarded as the “Best Trumpet Player” as well as the “Best Improvised Jazz Solo” at the Riga Jazz Stage-Competition.

Gerhard has worked with many artists and bands from all over the world including: the NDR Big Band, Zagreb Jazz Orkestar,Latvian Radio Big Band, Miguel Zenon, Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, Gerald Preinfalk, Dick Oatts, Terell Stafford, Erik Truffaz.

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www.gerhardornig.com

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Emiliano Sampaio - Guitar:

Guitarist, trombonist, arranger and composer, born in São Paulo in 1984, studied Popular Music in the University from Campinas (Unicamp) where he got a Bachelor and a Master degree.

In 2012 Emiliano moved to Europe to study composition and trombone with Ed Partyka, Michael Abene and Ed Neumeister at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz.

Nowadays he develops his Doctoral studies, with focus on the use of improvisation related to large Jazz Symphonic Orchestra.

In 2013, Emiliano founded the European nonet “Mereneu Project”, which won the “Downbeat” Student Award 2014 in the category Best Small Jazz Combo.

As composer and instrumentalist, Emiliano got the 3rd Prize in the Jazz Comp Graz Composition Contest and many Downbeat Student Awards in the categories “Best Jazz Guitar Player”, “Best Blues/Pop Guitar Player”, “Best Arranger”, “Best Composer for Large Ensemble”

As conductor, arranger and composer, he has worked with the Metropole Orkest (Holland), HR Frankfurt Radio Big Band, the Fete Huppe (Hannover), the Big Band Copenhagen, HRT Croatian Radio Band, the Regensburg University Jazz Orchestra, the Graz Composers Orchestra, Mere Big Band (Sao Paulo), Soundscape (Sao Paulo), Badi Assad, Dominguinhos, the Trombone Quartet of Campinas, Rebecca Sharp and Golden Ground.

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www.emilianosampaio.com

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Thilo Seevers - Keyboards:

Constantly striving to learn from the great masters, Thilo made the search for simplicity the focal point of his musical activities. His playing and writing is strongly influenced by the composers of the classical-romantic epoch, however the media links a variety of artists to his music, as the likes of Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau or Shai Maestro. Lyrical expressivity, a predilection for meaningful melodies and a tendency to reduce the played material to its simplest version characterise the playing of the Graz / Austria based pianist. Mainly at home at the acoustic piano, Thilo explores the sounds of electronic key instruments and the organ as well as being an in-tune singer. Having studied the tradition of early, classical and Jazz music, he draws from all possible influences to enrich his musical expression across stylistic boundaries.

The beginning of Thilo’s musical studies dates back to his 5th anniversary, when he formally started taking piano lessons. Later, Accordion, French horn and vocal lessons were added. Although Thilo displayed some talent performing as a soloist in classical piano and was awarded 1st prizes at various international competitions (Steinway comp. / Germany, Bach comp. / Estonia, Neuhaus comp. / Ukraine), playing music by ear and interacting in a band context always showed to be more appealing to him. As a teenager, having had the chance to partake in the Rotary cultural exchange program and stay abroad in Brazil for one year, the decision grew in him to devote himself to improvised music and enter the Jazz program at Kunstuniversität Graz, where he finished his Masters with honors in 2018. Here, he had the chance to study piano with Olaf Polziehn and composition with Ed Partyka, Michael Abene. Furthermore, the likes of Anders Jormin, Shai Maestro, Gerald Clayton, George Cables and Dominik Wania became important mentors along the way.

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www.thiloseevers.com

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Luis Oliveira - Drums, Vibraphone

Luis Andre is born 1984 in Araraquara, Brazil. In 2009 Luis moved to Sao Paulo for further studies and became soon involved in the local scene. Coletivo Orquestral, Projeto Meretrio, Meretrio, Clube de Bolso, Pig Soul, Fabio Goes, S de Samba, is a few of the bands he was working with…
In 2012 Luis moved to Graz. During this time in Austria, he performed with several groups in many festivals around europe (Austria, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, Czech Republic, France).

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youtube.com/channel/UC8QzDXdE2pCVgApvjKDBU8w

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Karel Eriksson -Trombone,leader:

Bio (See Biography page)

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