Artistic direction
The Bundesjazzorchester is led by a dual artistic leadership team. Since January 2025, Prof Niels Klein and Theresia Philipp have formed the artistic management team. They conduct the ensemble in rotation with outstanding guest conductors from all over the world and determine the ensemble's future programmes.
Prof Niels Klein
Niels Klein (*1978 in Hamburg) studied saxophone and composition/arrangement at the Cologne University of Music and Dance from 1998 to 2002. Since then, he has performed with musicians such as Vince Mendoza, Peter Erskine, Jim Black, Gary Husband, Jeff Hamilton, Albert Mangelsdorff, Bob Brookmeyer, Nils Wogram, Frank Wingold, Florian Ross, Pablo Held, Robert Landfermann, Jonas Burgwinkel and many others and has appeared at numerous national and international festivals. In 2016, he was appointed professor of jazz saxophone at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Prior to this, he was Professor of Jazz Composition and Theory at the Institute of Music at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences from 2009 to 2016.
Theresia Philipp
Theresia Philipp (*1991 in Saxony) is a German saxophonist, clarinettist and composer. She studied at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. She was a member of the Saxony Youth Jazz Orchestra and the German National Jazz Orchestra. Philipp is active as a saxophonist and composer in her own projects such as "pollon" and "Seeds of Sweat". She was awarded the Cologne Jazz Prize in 2020 and the German Jazz Prize in the composition category in 2024. She has been a lecturer at the Cologne University of Music and Dance since 2020.
