A stay at an American high school was the trigger for his later musical career: As a 17-year old Sebastian Gahler (*27.10.1978) spent two semesters in Wadena, Minnesota, taking jazz piano classes from various teachers. As a child in Dusseldorf, Gahler had already taken classical piano lessons but it was in the USA that he first came face to face with jazz, garnering experience with big bands and other jazz formations.
Back in Germany, he took lessons with jazz pianist Buddy Casino (Helge Schneider) from 1997 to 1999. Gahler decided to become a professional musician and studied jazz piano from 1999-2000 with Robert-Jan Vermeulen at the Hogeschool voor de kunsten in Arnhem (NL). Afterwards Gahler completed a one-year course of study in sound engineering at the Robert Schumann University of Music in Dusseldorf.
In April 2000 at a workshop held by the Berklee School of Music in Germany, Gahler won a 5,000 dollar scholarship for the renowned Boston College of Music.
From 2001 to 2007 he studied jazz piano (IE and AE) at the Cologne University of Music with Hans Lüdeman, Hubert Nuss and John Taylor, graduating as a fully qualified jazz pianist. During the course of his studies, Gahler attended numerous workshops and master classes, including those held by Barry Harris, Julian Joseph, Adam Nussbaum and Jacky Terrasson.
In mid 2008 Gahler took a creative break and returned to the USA, where his love for jazz had been awakened 13 years before. While there, he also spent time in Minnesota, Florida and New York and his collected impressions are reflected in his latest compositions.
In autumn 2008, he was involved as a pianist and répétiteur in the children’s theatre production Major Dux at the Junges Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. He reworked the material and translated it into concert form in 2009, creating a musical reading for children which has already been performed several times together with the Düsseldorf author, Martin Baltscheit, and recently won an award from the Kultursekretariat NRW cultural organisation. (www.majordux.blogspot.com).
Since February 2011, Gahler has been directing a Jazz Working Group at the St. Ursula Gymnasium (secondary school) in Düsseldorf, focusing on improvisation for students aged 13 to 18.
Since the beginning of 2011, Gahler has been a member of the Christine Corvisier Group around the exceptional French saxophonist, Christine Corvisier (www.christinecorvisier.com).
Gahler’s latest project is a contemporary piano trio with the bass player Nico Brandenburg and the drummer René Marx. The Sebastian Gahler Trio mainly plays its own compositions, alongside a few selected jazz standards. The Trio often works with guest soloists, for example the jazz saxophonists Wolfgang Engstfeld, Gerd Dudek and Claudius Valk, or the jazz singer Inga Lühning.
The Sebastian Gahler Trio’s first CD, Meditation, appeared in 2009 as part of the Jazz thing Next Generation series. The second CD Trust was released in early 2012 on the Label EDEL:content.
Sebastian Gahler was awarded the City of Düsseldorf’s Award in the category Music in 2011.
For more information and music samples please visit: www.sebastiangahler.de