Cross-genre multi-instrumentalist Theodor Spannagel (*1990)
works interregionally as a double bassist, pianist, choir director, arranger and singer-songwriter.
As a 4-year-old he discovered the piano, then the Bavarian choir world (Windsbacher and Tölzer Knabenchor),
as a teenager he first kept himself intensely busy with
classical piano-, choir- and orchestra-music and later successfully took part in his
first jazz competitions on the double bass with a school jazz band he co-founded.
He then studied Jazz at university, which allowed Spannagel to develop his
improvisational skills on the double bass, by expanding his horizons via
various jazz styles and via improvised music in general.
At the same time, he had deep encounters with
popular music, contemporary classical music, and with music from various world regions.
Particularly formative were longer band tours in the USA (Folk) and China (Jazz),
numerous performances during his studies abroad in the USA (Folk, Jazz, A cappella pop, Classical choral music),
countless interactions with the multifaceted music and arts scene in London - and more recently also in Amsterdam -
and, last but not least, his now more than 10 year long experience as a
diplomatic director of several choirs.
Together with various band formations, he won several jazz awards
(Sparda Jazz Award 2019, Düsseldorf.
Junger Deutscher Jazz Preis 2017, Osnabrück.
Young Munich Jazz Award 2020: 2nd prize.
Kurt Maas Jazz Award 2017, Munich: 2nd prize.
10th European Young Artists’ Jazz Award 2018, Burghausen: Final round),
has played numerous concerts on both small and large stages,
and his double bass playing can be heard on the
Anton Mangold Quartet's three CD releases (latest album published in 2023: "Oracle").
Spannagel is a musician with wide ranging interests,
speaks more than four languages,
has been steadfastly supporting the youth via voluntary social work
and recently completed a second degree (sociology, political science and sinology)
as well as a formal apprenticeship as a qualified skilled worker in early childhood education.
