Paul Wiltgen

“ONE OF THE BEST YOUNG DRUMMERS IN NYC RIGHT NOW!” -- David BinneyI grew up in the middle of nowhere in Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe. I grew up with a lot of classical music, playing the cello for a long time as well as classical percussion. I learned about jazz much later and started playing the drums.It is the music that brought me to one of the greatest places on this planet, New York City. I've been here for 6 years now. I got my bachelors and my masters at Manhattan School of Music. Just graduated in May 06. Now, like many others, I'm a musician trying to make it in New York and the world of music. I'm eager to write and create, play and develop my art.There is a few groups I'm currently working with: my own project, The Paul Wiltgen Group, which is going on Tour in Europe in 2008 and will release a new album in 2009; The TransAtlantic Collective, a new contemporary jazz ensemble, whose members consist of emerging artists from both New York City and London; The Paislies, a collaboration of young musicians in New York City, who recently released an album on Fresh Sound New Talent Records; and french piano player Cedric Hanriot's Trio as well as his frogNstein project.I just recently got married to the most amazing Annie McCormack. She has become my other half, she is the love of my life and I see an amazing future ahead of us. I love her with all my heart.My family lives in Luxembourg (my parents, 2 sisters and my brother). They are the best and most certainly a huge part of me. I'm so thankful and blessed to have them and to have their full support at all times.Another big part of me and an important guidance in everything I'm doing is my strong believe in the Baha'i faith. The religion is about 160 years old and comes from what used to be Persia. It was founded by the prophet Baha'u'llah. Today, as the youngest world religion, the Baha'i faith is present in over 200 countries. One of the many ideas in the Baha'i faith, which I find myself most attracted to, is the concept of progressive revelation. Meaning, that all divine revelations come from the same Source (God, or whatever you wanna call it); thus, the religions identified with them are in essence one. They differ in the measure of their teachings and particularly in their social laws and principles, appropriate to the times in which they appeared. The successive divine Revelations over the centuries have provided the spiritual force, laws and guidance for the advancement of civilization. Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad (and others) were all divine Messengers. We Baha'is believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent and his revelation, the guidance for our time. Check it out, it is pretty amazing!!