Maria Baptist

In the same way, Maria convinces her live audience: as a soloist, in the intimacy of the jazz trio or as an orchestra conductor. She offers fascinating sound structures and Maria‘s playing is always very intense and breathtaking virtuoso. She gave concerts e.g. in the United States, China, South Africa, Cuba, France, Iceland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary and Spain.

In 2010 she took part at the Reykjavik Jazz Festival, which is a new unique and inspiring place for live Jazz. As a special concert experience Maria conducted the Reykjavik Big Band. She composed an „Icelandic Suite“, which had the world premiere. In 2008 there has been already a collaboration with Baptist and the Reykjavik Big Band, which acclaimed highly reputation. In 2011 Maria will combine her passion for conducting, composing and teaching. As a successor of Peter Herbolzheimer, she will lead the Federal Youth Orchestra of Germany. As a dedication to her fascination for big cities, the concert program "City Grooves" will be premiered.

Apart from her engagements as a performer and composer, Maria has been a professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin since 2001. She teaches composition, arranging, improvisation and music theory. In addition Maria is in great demand for teaching at international workshops. She is also a judge of different competitions and awards—as an example she was a jury member of the yearly jazz grant of the Berlin Senat in 2010.

Maria Baptist (born 30 August 1971) is a German musician (pianist, composer) and professor.

Maria Baptist was born in 1971 in East Berlin in a very musical family. Her grandfather was an orchestra musician and composer, her father himself is a pianist. Maria discovered very early her fascination for music and at the age of six she began playing the piano. At the age of eleven she composed her first pieces. Maria developed her desire to become a classical concert pianist. At the age of fifteen Maria listened to recordings of Dave Brubeck and Keith Jarrett and discovered for the first time the world of jazz and improvisation. Impressed by the musical expression, Maria felt that she had to continue on this path. She began studying piano at the music university in Berlin and won her first international piano competitions on improvisation. During this period, the Berlin Wall fell, which meant a great personal change in Maria's life. She took the opportunity to move to New York. Here Maria experienced the freedom, space and magic, which opened up whole new musical worlds to her. Maria's artistic work was significantly influenced and inspired by the tremendous creativity, energy, living will, the strength and melancholy of the metropolis.