Born on July 4, 1960 in Baden-Baden, Germany, Heinrich von Kalnein has lived in Austria for more than 25 years, where he figures among the most high-profile musical personalities.
Since his graduation from the University of Music Graz and master classes with David Liebman and Oliver Lake, he has lived and worked as a free-lance musician, high-profile soloist as well as producer and composer/ arranger.
1986 - 1992 he co-lead the experimental jazztrio 'X-tra' together with Austrian keyboarder Uli Rennert and Swedish trumpeter Lars Lindvall. They produced one LP 'Electric Poetry' (1988) and one cd 'life-traKs' (1992).
1991 - 94 he co-lead the Austrian band 'The Quartet' together with guitarist / composer Gernot Wolfgang, Austrian bass-legend Ewald Oberleitner and drummer Klaus Hofer. They toured all over Europe and produced two cd's on the Austrian label 'Extraplatte'. The Austrian newspaper DER STANDARD wrote: „One of the most polished saxophonists of the Austrian scene, Heinrich von Kalnein knows how to produce both high impact jazz and masterful lines with a lyrical feel. Warmly recommended!..."
1994 - 2002 he co-lead the first-duo, then-trio 'Free Winds' together with German saxophonist / Nadaswaramplayer Roland Schaeffer and Indian percussionist Jatinder Thakur. Together they produced two cd's (one featuring 'Shakti' percussionist, kanjiraplayer Selva Vinayakram) and toured Europe as well as India (1996) and Sri Lanka (1997).
1994 - 2001 he was leading his own Heinrich von Kalnein Group, which included some of Europe's finest musicians, e.g. Austrian vibist Woody Schabata, Hungarian pianist Emil Spanyi, German bassists Achim Tang and Henning Sieverts and Austrian drummer Christian Salfellner. For their second cd 'Perfect World' (1996) he invited French guitarist Nguyén Lé.
2002 he produced 'Blackbird - The Lennon / McCartney Songbook' paying reference for his personal standards. This production, which included among others trombonist / composer Ed Neumeister and Brazilian percussionist Luis Ribeiro, led to several tours, which included Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer, bassist Wayne Darling, drummer John Hollenbeck and keyboarder Uli Rennert.
Since 2003 together with trumpeter / composer Horst-Michael Schaffer he co-leads JBBG - Jazz Bigband Graz. They performed with the vocal groups ‚Take Six’ and ‚The New York Voices’ as well as singers Jon Hendricks and Kurt Elling. Their 2005 production ‚Joys & Desires’ on the German Intuition label (Allegro) featured the compositional work of drummer John Hollenbeck and vocalist Theo Bleckmann. It got critical acclaim worldwide and led among others to performances at the 2006 IAJE Conference in New York as well as the Northsea Jazzfestival.
Their latest production 'Electric Poetry' combining electronic sounds with the musical world of the bigband streched the musical boundaries of the genre even further. Bigbandleader Maria Schneider wrote:"...spectacularly done! Fantastic music, incredible production, evocative, beautiful and so creative...". British composer Colin Towns wrote in his linernotes "...Europe in many ways is leading this vision of music today. The jazz bigband graz has produced a rich album for tomorrow – music for the head, the heart and the foot that gives a purpose to the large ensemble in the 21st century...."
2008 he founded his new trio KAHIBA featuring Swiss drummer / electronic musician Gregor Hilbe as well as Austrian accordeonist / pianist Christian Bakanic spanning three generations. Their debut - cd 'Global Dialects' will be released in November 2009 by the German label Intuition Records.
Additionally he worked as a musical producer and bandmember with the Vienna Art Orchestra for more than 10 years and saw him also performing wordlwide (2004).
Currently he is holding a position as professor for saxophone, flute and ensemble at the renowned jazzinstitute of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria.
He also performed with Iain Ballamy, Django Bates, Bob Brookmeyer, Jay Clayton, Gil Evans, Heiner Goebbels, Jerry Granelli, Doug Hammond, the Peter Herbolzheimer Bigband, Peter Herborn, Marc Johnson, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Mariano, Bob Mintzer, Glen Moore, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Marc Ribot, Paquito d'Rivera and the Austrian National Public Radio symphony (ORF Sinfonieorchester) among others.
He appeared on the festivals in Hofheim (D), Gdynia (PL), Guimaraes (P), Graz (A), Lisboa (P), Madrid (E), Magdeburg (D), Maribor (Slo), New York, Salzburg (A), St. Petersburg (Rus), Strasbourg (F), Usti Nad Labem (CZ), Trencin (SK), Vienne (F), Warsaw (PL), Wien (A), Wiesbaden (D), Wiesen (A), Wroclaw (PL).
Outside his work within the Graz University of Music his teaching activities included workshops and classes in Bozen (I); Helsinki (Fi), Sibelius Academy and Polytechnical University; Meran (I); Rotterdam (NL), Codarts; Salzburg (A), Landesmusikschulwerk; Tuxtla Gutierrez (Mex), UNICACH; Viktring (A), summercourses.
For more information regarding my different projects please also refer to my website www.heinrichvonkalnein.com
