Bio

I was born in Krefeld, Germany, into a small but artistically vibrant family. My mother painted and wrote, while my father and big sister instilled a deep interest in music in me. With their support, as a teen I ventured into drawing, programming, piano, guitar, and ultimately the drums.

After receiving lessons from Christian Baakes, Bernd Oezsevim, Patrick Hengst and Hans-Georg Leven, I began my music studies as a jazz-drummer at the Hochschule für Music FRANZ LISZT in Weimar in 2012. There, I studied under the likes of Jo Thönes, Frank Möbus, and many others. In 2014, I completed my Zwischenprüfung, intending to continue on to a bachelor’s and master’s degree.

However, while learning a lot from fellow students and our teachers, my interests had grown one-sided in those years. A bad day on my instrument would often result in strong feelings of self-loathing, resulting in even worse play. So I decided to take a break. For the next three years, I studied Computer Science at the RWTH Aachen, reconnected with old friends and interests, and reflected on how I viewed myself as a person as well as an artist.

In 2017, I returned to Weimar to finish my music degrees. I received my Bachelor’s degree in 2020, followed by my Master’s in 2022, and have since relocated to Leipzig, where I now play, draw, write and teach drums. Being a teacher in particular has become another passion to me, since it requires just as much creativity as the act of playing itself and allows me to work with a variety of people.

In 2024, I finished my first book, “Namenlose Sonne”, which is to be self-published by early 2025. I also got to design the album cover for Man the OICA’s banger debut album as well as the tour poster for Max Löbner’s KLSD, who recently won the Mitteldeutscher Jazz-Preis. Meanwhile, I play in a variety of ensembles across genres, including the latin jazz quartet Surucucu, the folk-/fusion-inspired Tatjana Sawjalow Quartet and the experimental noise rock outfit Heiner Müllers Statikthese.