Lorenz Kellhuber
Classical music is deeply rooted in his musical DNA, while jazz has taught him to forge his own path. In free improvisation, Lorenz Kellhuber continually discovers a sense of boundless freedom. Intuitively, he moves through the diverse eras and sound worlds that have shaped his musical identity, from the Baroque to the contemporary. He sees his musical heritage not as a limitation, but as an open space of resonance in which tradition and the present, composition and improvisation, meet. Kellhuber engages with his own musical history, questions conventions, and creates a distinctive sonic language in the moment. The only limits are those imposed by his own artistic standards.
“Few pianists move as spectacularly between jazz and classical piano music as Lorenz Kellhuber. Whether improvising over ostinatos in shifting registers or navigating between free tonality and anchored harmonic structures, Kellhuber creates an intimate, concentrated space between himself, the piano, the room, and his audience,” writes Neue Musikzeitung about his solo album Live at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Born in 1990 to two church musicians, Lorenz Kellhuber began classical piano training at the age of five at HfKM Regensburg. At eleven, he was admitted to the institution as a pre-college student and, as part of Bavaria’s young talent development program, also studied violin and chamber music with Professor Conrad von der Goltz. From 2003 onward, he received classical piano instruction from Professor Franz Massinger, a student of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Shortly thereafter, jazz pianist Rob Bargad (Nat Adderley Quintet) discovered him and introduced him intensively to the language and stylistic traditions of jazz. At just sixteen, Kellhuber passed the entrance examination for exceptionally gifted students and enrolled at the Jazz Institute Berlin, where Hubert Nuss and Kurt Rosenwinkel were among his teachers. During regular stays in New York, he also studied with Fred Hersch and Sophia Rosoff. In 2010, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree, becoming one of the youngest graduates worldwide.
Since then, his concert engagements have taken him throughout Europe, to the United States, South America, and Asia. He has performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including the Berlin Philharmonie, the Isarphilharmonie in Munich, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the Paul Chiang Art Center in Taitung, as well as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Basel Jazz Festival, Jazzwoche Burghausen, Alto Adige Jazz Festival, Getxo Jazz Festival, Bohemia Jazz Festival, and Mar del Plata Jazz Festival. As a sideman and co-leader, he has performed alongside Ack van Rooyen, Charles Lloyd, Julia Hülsmann, Orlando Le Fleming, Bob Mintzer, Felix Henkelhausen, Seamus Blake, Jorge Rossy, Ed Partyka, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Moritz Baumgärtner, Joe Sanders, Anna-Lena Schnabel, Obed Calvaire, Phil Donkin, Elisabeth Coudoux, Jesse Simpson, Charles Altura, and many others.
In the summer of 2014, Monty Alexander named Kellhuber the winner of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition, making him the first German musician to receive the award. In 2016, he was nominated for the ECHO Jazz Award in the category Newcomer of the Year. In 2018, he was selected as one of the ten “Key Players” featured in Jazz thing magazine.
Since 2012, Kellhuber has released a total of twelve albums and founded his own label, Low Intervention Records, in 2025. His most recent release, the solo album Gestalt (2026), was issued on the label in collaboration with the streaming service Qobuz, where it was available exclusively for the first six months. Other key releases include Live in Berlin, Vol. 1–3 (2025), recorded with the Standard Experience featuring Joe Sanders on bass and Jesse Simpson on drums; the solo albums Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival (2017), Contemporary Chamber Music (2021), and Live at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (2022); as well as the trio albums Samadhi (2019), About:Blank (2020), and Low Intervention (2023), featuring Felix Henkelhausen on bass and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums.
Since completing his studies, Lorenz Kellhuber has established himself as a sought-after educator. He regularly gives workshops and masterclasses in Germany and abroad. His teaching engagements have included institutions in Nuremberg, Mannheim, Hamburg, and Lübeck, as well as the Jazz Institute Berlin. In 2021, Kellhuber was appointed Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden.
„Outstanding dexterity, elegantly accented playing, verve and energy“ (FAZ)
„Unusual and promising“ (Sueddeutsche)
„One of the most interesting young voices in European jazz“ (Concerto)
Projects
Lorenz Kellhuber Piano Solo
Classical music is deeply rooted in his musical DNA, while jazz has taught him to forge his own path. In free improvisation, Lorenz Kellhuber continually discovers a sense of boundless freedom. Intuitively, he moves through the diverse eras and sound worlds that have shaped his musical identity, from the Baroque to the contemporary. He sees his musical heritage not as a limitation, but as an open space of resonance in which tradition and the present, composition and improvisation, meet. Kellhuber engages with his own musical history, questions conventions, and creates a distinctive sonic language in the moment. The only limits are those imposed by his own artistic standards.
Lorenz Kellhuber Trio featuring Felix Henkelhausen – Bass & Moritz Baumgärtner – Drums
With Felix Henkelhausen on double bass, one of the greatest talents of the European jazz scene, and Moritz Baumgärtner, one of the most versatile and innovative drummers of recent years, Lorenz Kellhuber has formed „one of the best German piano trios“. Together they create „an ebb and flow of interplay, monologues, duets and trios whose brilliance is impossible to resist. A bandleader and pianist, very individual, unconventional and full of ideas, with two congenial partners“ (Jazzpodium).
Lorenz Kellhuber Standard Experience featuring Joe Sanders – Bass & Jesse Simpson – Drums
Lorenz Kellhuber consistently finds significant inspiration in the Great American Songbook, whose pieces, also known as jazz standards, provide a perfect foundation for elaborate improvisations. The ingenuity, virtuosity, and understanding of jazz history with which Lorenz Kellhuber approaches these jazz standards can be heard in his project „Standard Experience.“ In this project, he performs in high-profile and changing line-ups, and has so far released the critically acclaimed album „The Brooklyn Session.“ By inviting Joe Sanders on bass and Jesse Simpson on drums, Kellhuber has now brought two of the most accomplished musicians from the American jazz scene into the fold.
click on cover to listen to music via Bandcamp
Contact
andreas (at) orangemusicmanagement.de
Booking
booking (at) lorenzkellhuber.com
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Photos © Holger Riegel