Berlin based saxophonist Peter Ehwald writes and performs music, along the tangency of Jazz and contemporary music. With his approach to rhythm rooted in the Jazz tradition, he uses unusual instrumentations and modern concepts of harmony to project the “here and now” in his energetic and yet elegiac improvisations.
Peter Ehwald studied Saxophone at the music academies in Weimar and Köln, at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at City College New York. He took lessons with Claudius Valk, Mike Holober, Julian Argüelles, Stan Sulzman and Ian Ballemy. Rewarded with a prestigious DAAD scholarship he studied with John Patitucci, Rich Perry at City College, New York from 2007 to 2009.
Peter has worked with musicians like Tom Rainey, Gunter Hampel, Clarence Penn, Rhani Krija, Dan Weiss, John Betch, Kim Bo Sung, Rudi Mahall, Claudio Puntin, Gunter Hampel, Nils Wogram, John Schröder, Eivind Aarset, Jon Scott, Matthias Schubert, Stefan Schultze, Jonas Burgwinkel, Robert Landfermann.
Since returning to Berlin in 2007 Peter became an active part of the Berlin Jazz Scene. From there he leads various own projects, including the two Double Bass quartet Double Trouble, the Septuor de Grand Matin, well as a trio with pianist Stefan Schultze and New York based drummer Tom Rainey. Peter has a deep interest in music cultures that differ from the western form and Jazz. From 2011-2014 he was the artistic director of the Backyard Jazz Orchestra, a project of Goethe Institut in South Eastern Europe. He writes for and performs regulary with the berlin based Korean percussion Ensemble ~su. Following this involvement he was invited to South Korea as Artist in Residence to Gwanju and Seoul.
Currently he teaches Jazz Saxophone at the Hochschule für Musik „Franz Liszt“ in Weimar and at Hochschule für Musik in Detmold.
Peter's music is released on around thirty CDs, he is an intensely touring musician, who performs with many bands in countries like UK, France, Poland, Spain, Finland, USA, Peru, Costa Rica, South Korea and Mexico.
