ChristophSietzen

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  • Percussion

About Christoph

In the 2025/26 season Christoph returns to Mozarteumorchester Salzburg (González-Monjas) for the world premiere of Christian Jost’s new percussion concerto Blade, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ravouli) with Johannes Maria Staud’s concerto Whereas the Reality Trembles, and Philharmonisches Orchester Bremerhaven (Ward) with Detlev Glanert’s Percussion Concerto.

Christoph was the Kölner Philharmonie's 2024/25 Portrait Artist, performing several times throughout the season. This included a return to WDR Symphonieorchester for Staud’s concerto, which he also performed with SWR Sinfonieorchester and Bruckner Orchester Linz. This followed its world premiere with Cleveland Orchestra (Welser-Möst) and its Austrian premiere with Vienna Symphony ( Poga) in the 2023/24 season. Christoph also recently made his debut with hr Sinfonieorchester (de Ridder) and Kammerakademie Potsdam (Ward).

Christoph is a member of marimba ensemble, The Wave Quartet, founded by Bogdan Bacanu in 2008. Upcoming highlights for the quartet include its continued collaboration with the Academy of Ancient Music for performances in London and Cambridge and appearances at the Salzkammergut Festival and Kölner Philharmonie. Christoph is also the founder of the percussion ensemble MOTUS Percussion, which recently performed Steve Reich’s Drumming at Heidelberger Frühling, and this season will perform at Wien Modern. Also this season, Christoph leads the Artistic Team at the Klangwolke Linz Festival, transforming the Danube Park into one of Austria’s largest open-air stages.

Christoph is based in Linz

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Jack Haynes

Jack Haynes

Artist Manager
Edward Pascall

Edward Pascall

Associate Director

For contracts, logistics and press:

Joy Pidsley

Joy Pidsley

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow Christoph

Season Highlights

Sep 2025
Brucknerhaus, Linz
Linzer Klangwolke
Oct 2025
Stadttheater Gmunden
Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden Works by Bach, Piazzola, Séjourné, Thrower and Dorman Wave Quartet Erica Eloff, Soprano
Nov 2025
Stadttheater Bremerhaven
Glanert, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra Das Philharmonische Orchester Bremerhaven Christopher Ward, conductor
Feb 2026
Kölner Philharmonie
Dorman, Udacrep Akubrad Dorman, Four Marimbas Mussorgsky arr. Uchiyama, Pictures at an Exhibition Wave Quartet
Apr 2026
Brucknerhaus, Linz
Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre for organ and percussion Tarrodi, Poseidon Gubaidulina, Detto I. Escaich, Ground II Martin Riccabona, organ
May 2026
Mozarteum, Salzburg
Jost, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra Mozarteumorchester Salzburg Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas, conductor
May 2026
Milton Court, London
Works by Bertali, Geminani, Handel, Bach, Xenakis and Festa The Wave Quartet Academy of Ancient Music
May 2026
Isarphilharmonie, Munich
Staud, Whereas the Reality Trembles for percussion and orchestra Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor

Video

Photos

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Sample Programmes

  • Percussion & Orchestra

    Programme IANNIS XENAKIS: Rebonds A LOUISE FARRENC: Symphony No. 3 Interval IANNIS XENAKIS: Rebonds B ARNOLD SCHOENBERG: Five pieces for Orchestra PETER EÖTVÖS: Speaking Drums, four poems for solo percussions and orchestra

  • Percussion Quartet

    JOSH GROBAN: The Wandering Kind GEORGES/SHCHEDRIN BIZET: Carmen Suite MAKI ISHII: Thirteen Drums Interval GASPARD LE ROUX: Pieces de Clavessin, Suite No.1 in D minor ASTOR PIAZZOLLA: "Aconcagua" Concerto for Accordion SUZANNE VEGA: Gypsy AVNER DORMAN: Udacrep Akrubrad

  • Percussion & Organ

    Sofia Gubaidulina: Detto I Maki Ishii: Thirteen Drums for percussion solo Johann Sebastian Bach: Passacaglia BWV 582 Andrea Tarrodi: Poseidon (commande Philharmonie, KölnMusik, Bamberger Symphoniker et Wiener Konzerthaus) Toshi Ichiyanagi: The Source Arvo Pärt: Annum per annum Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre (Totentanz) (arr. Christian Schmitt, Christoph Sietzen)

News

Press

  • Steve Reich, Drumming

    Heidelberger Frühling
    Apr 2025

    • In the Karlstorbahn yard you could hear the clappers occasionally banging together in the heat of the swirling bongo, marimba or brightly whirring glockenspiel cascades. But what's really important in "drumming" is that at the end everyone delivers the final blow together. Christoph Sietzen and the Motus Ensemble achieved this perfectly. Standing ovation at the stroke of twelve!

  • Staud, Percussion Concerto

    SWR Sinfonieorchester
    Feb 2025

    • Sietzen had a great half hour surrounded by the rough and tumble equipment. From the marimba to flower pots, from cowbells to petrol canisters to extra-large wood blocks – everything was worked on with great enthusiasm for this obstacle course.

    • The percussionist Christoph Sietzen, who is not even disturbed by the slipping of a reused oil drum, turns Johannes Maria Staud's "Whereas The Reality Trembles" into a percussion showpiece like an athletic jack-in-the-box with incredibly agile arms.

    • the percussion concerto “Whereas reality trembles” by Johannes Maria Staud with the brilliant whirlwind Christoph Sietzen as soloist is a strong, vital piece: speaking from within, alternating in contrast between the eruptive and the delicately shimmering, cleverly proportioned in terms of time and, with the battery of marimbas, drums, petrol canisters and flowerpots, also a visual spectacle.

      • FAZ
      • 12 February 2025

  • Staud, Percussion Concerto (World Premiere)

    Severance Hall, Cleveland

    • Passages that start as just great fun morph into moments of reckoning. Kinetic riffs give way to shimmering clouds of sound made with everything from ethereal bells to the mundane clunks of ceramic flowerpots, or the harsh rasp of a steel barrel used as a kick drum. After the work reaches a transfigured calm, it embarks on an entertaining but unsettling closing section, vigorous to the point of threat. ...the central role of the percussionist, combined with Sietzen’s flamboyant enthusiasm, casts him in a shamanic role in this concerto. An amazing performance of a compelling piece.

    • Sietzen is a real showman, given to raising his arms high in the air, aggressively hitting his targets, running to and from instruments, even engaging in some audience banter when building the Frank Gehry-like structure that would be his trap set for the evening. His playing was thrilling, not the least for his obvious commitment to this leviathan of a work, which he collaborated in bringing to life. Also amazing was the coordination of his part with the Orchestra’s percussion section.

  • Glanert Percussion Concerto (German Premiere)

    Forum N
    Sep 2024

    • Above all, Sietzen himself was pleasing. His virtuosity is one side, the other is his sensuality of sound, such as the trembling intensity with which he approaches the vibraphone bars, full of trepidation about hitting them too hard.

Discography