Michael

 Kullick,  Villy  Paraskevopoulos,  Stefan  Thaler  

 
"Spiritual  Kinship  of  Chopin"  
 
 
Chopin’s  music  combines  lyrical  melodies  with  a  strong  dose  of  emotionality.    His  musical  works  
-­‐  miniatures,  preludes,  nocturnes,  mazurkas  -­‐  all  perfectly  lend  themselves  to  jazz-­‐inspired  
interpretations.    Chopin's  harmonies  from  the  late-­‐romantic  period  had  already  been  
successfully  adapted  to  jazz  standards  in  the  twentieth  century.  Chopin  was  a  brilliant  
improviser.  
 
 
Michael  Kullick  
 
The  structure  of  several  mazurkas  follows  a  musical  formula  of  several  figurations  within  each  
sequence.    The  coupling  of  Frederic  Chopin’s  creative  genius  with  jazz  aesthetics  is  what  
characterises  this  concert  trio.    Michael  Kullick  is  a  well-­‐established  prominent  figure  in  the  
German  jazz  scene  and  has  been  widely  acclaimed  for  his  unique  and  creative  compositions.    
Together  with  two  Viennese-­‐based  musicians  -­‐  Stefan  Thaler  (a  bassist  of  Slovenian  origin)  and  
the  Greek  pianist,  Villy  Paraskevopoulos  -­‐  they  form  a  ground-­‐breaking  European  jazz  trio  based  
on  the  fusion  of  classical  music,  New-­‐Age  music  and  jazz,  as  well  as  various  harmonic  and  
rhythmic  stylistic  elements  from  ethnically-­‐based  “world  music”.  
 
This  extraordinary  trio  offers  the  listener  enthralling  and  captivatingly-­‐arranged  “new  
compositions”  of  Chopin,  which  are  ecstatically  performed.  
 
 
Villy  Paraskevopoulos  
 
Villy  Paraskevopoulos  studied  classical  piano  at  the  Hellenic  Conservatory  of  Music  in  Athens  
from  1990  to  2001.    From  2001  to  2005,  he  studied  jazz  piano  with  Dejan  Pecenko  und  
Christoph  Cech  at  the  Bruckner  University  in  Linz,  Austria,  where  he  was  graduated  with  
honours  in  2005.    Since  2006,  he  has  been  employed  as  an  instructor  of  jazz  piano  at  the  Music  
Conservatory  of  the  City  of  Vienna.    He  has  composed  and  arranged  various  pieces  for  his  piano  
trio  (the  “Experimental  Electronic  Free  Jazz  Project”)  and  the  “Yorgos  Nousis  Projekct”.    He  has  
performed  as  a  session  musician  with  various  groups  in  Austria,  Greece  and  Germany  (e.g.,  the  
“Chopin  Project”).    He  has  participated  in  masterclass  workshops  with  the  likes  of  David  
Liebman,  Chick  Corea  and  Gerald  Veasley.    Finally,  he  has  performed  publically  in  Austria,  
Greece,  Germany  and  Hungary  with  numerous  up-­‐and-­‐coming  younger  jazz  musicians  including,  
Peter  und  Christian  Kronreif,  Gernot  Haslauer,  Cristian  Eberle,  Michael  Kröss,  Lubomir  
Gospodinov  and  Yorgos  Nousis.  
 
 
Stefan  Thaler  
 
Stefan  Thaler  studied  jazz  bass  at  the  Klagenfurt  State  Conservatory  of  Music  and  music  
arrangement  at  the  Royal  Conservatory  of  Music  in  The  Hague,  with  several  renowned  
instructors,  including  Hein  von  de  Geyn  and  Frans  von  der  Hoeven.    He  has  been  working  in  
Vienna  as  a  freelance  musician,  composer  and  producer  since  2000.    Despite  having  a  German  
name,  Stefan  Thaler  is  a  Carinthian  Slovene  and,  as  such,  is  part  of  the  so-­‐called  post-­‐
Yugoslavian,  Balkan  continuum.    He  is  a  very  prolific  jazz  bassist,  who  both  leads  the  band  
“ThaBoom”  and  is  an  aficionado  of  Balkan  music.    He  and  his  colleague  Harry  Tantschek  are  
amongst  the  few  so-­‐called  “westerners”,  who  can  immediately  and  intuitively  grasp  and  
empathise  with  music  from  the  Balkans.    His  performances  with  this  trio  are  a  testimony  to  his  
in-­‐depth  understanding  of  this  music.    He  has  toured  and  performed  in  the  USA,  Portugal,  
France,  Spain,  Belgium,  Holland,  Germany,  Hungary,  Norway,  Finland,  Switzerland,  Slovenia,  
Bosnia,  Croatia,  Turkey  and  Pakistan,  amongst  other  places.    He  has  performed  at  numerous  
international  festivals  including,  the  London  Part  of  World  &  Roots,  the  iTunes  Festival  in  Berlin,  
the  Sziget  Festival  in  Budapest,  the  Sfinds  Festival  in  Antwerp,  the  Balkan  Trafik  Festival  in  
Brussels,  the  Akkodeon  Festival  in  Vienna,  etc.    He  has  also  participated  in  various  masterclass  
workshops  with  Marc  Johnson,  György  Ligeti,  John  Patitucci  and  Avishai  Cohen.  
 
Stefan  Thaler  has  won  awards  at  various  international  competitions  including,  the  Accordeon  
Project  in  Castelfidardo  (Italy)  with  Klaus  Paier  in  1994,  second  place  at  the  Group  Hilversum  
(The  Netherlands)  with  Caroline  de  Rooij  in  2000  and  the  Jazzta  Prasta  in  Vienna  (Austrian  
World  Music  Award)  with  Martin  Lubenov  in  2005.  
 
He  has  collaborated,  performed  and  recorded  with  Martin  Lubenov,  Richard  Galliano,  Madita,  
Caroline  de  Rooij,  Wolfgang  Puschnig,  Klaus  Paier,  Karl-­‐Heinz  Miklin,  Roland  Neuwirth,  Barry  
Harris,  Andrea  Bocelli,  Peter  Kraus,  Dzihan  &  Kamien  and  Willi  Landl,  amongst  others.  
 
Press  Commentary:  
 
Chopin’s  Excesses  
 
Michael  Kullick’s  ambitious  concert  motto,  “Chopin  meets  jazz”  was  exactly  the  right  choice  for  
pianist  Villy  Paraskevopoulos,  who  had  already  been  working  with  bassist  Stefan  Thaler  in  
Vienna  for  some  time.    The  recently  formed  trio  of  Kullic,  Paraskevopoulos  and  Thaler  
immediately  caught  the  attention  of  both  jazz  and  Chopin  fans  in  various  popular  and  well-­‐
respected  cultural  venues.    This  newly-­‐formed  international  ensemble  plays  with  an  
extraordinary  sensitivity  for  one  another’s  musical  ideas  and  style  of  playing.  
 
Chopin,  whose  legendary  skills  as  a  gifted  improviser  have  withstood  the  test  of  time,  provided  
intrinsic  leeway  in  his  romantic  piano  pieces  for  short  brilliant  excesses.    Such playful, elegant
and “salon-like” patterns are captured by Paraskevopoulos, who utilises the entire keyboard
to create variations on these patterns. As a result, Chopin’s romantic modes evaporate into
sporadic uncompromising movements and strident patterns.  

 
The  cohesiveness  of  the  musicians  was  primarily  forged  by  Kullick,  whose  drumming  is  
uncluttered,  transparent,  colourful  and  wonderfully  swinging.    A  trio-­‐fantasy  on  the  Etude  in  F-­‐
major  was  performed  by  Kullick  on  the  Djembe  drum.    He  loves  such  experiments  that  involve  
omitting  the  snare-­‐dominated  drum  kit,  in  favour  of  providing  a  more  personal  jazz  aesthetic  
that  elegantly  complements  the  bass  and  piano  sonorities.    It  is  certainly  new  and  refreshing  to  
present  Chopin  from  the  perspective  of  this  trio’s  delicate  interaction  –  a  perspective  that  has  
continuously  received  high  acclaim.