Edward Partyka

Ed Partyka is a bass trombonist/tubist, composer/arranger and conductor. Originally from Chicago Illinois, he received a BA degree from Northern Illinois University before moving to Germany in 1990. He completed a Masters degree in jazz trombone performance at the Conservatory of Music in Cologne, where he was also a member of the G.E.M.A. Jazz Composers Workshop, led by Bob Brookmeyer.

He was recipient of the 2000 "A.S.C.A.P. / I.A.J.E. Commission Honouring the Centenary of Louis Armstrong". He was 1st prize-winner of the 1998 "NDR Musikpreis" (Hamburg), 1st prize winner of the Jazz Composers Alliance 1998 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards (Boston) and finalist in the 1996 HR Emerging Composers Competition (Frankfurt).

Ed has toured and recorded with the Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra, Vienna Art Orchestra, Carla Bley, WDR Big Band, NDR Big Band, Mnozil Brass, Gansch & Roses and the Roman Schwaller Nonet.

He leads the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra EPJO, is musical director of the Jazz Orchestra Regensburg and is Co-Leader of the Flip Philipp/Ed Partyka Dectet.

From 2000 – 2007 he was musical director of the Concert Jazz Orchestra Vienna, and 1999 – 2006 from the Sunday Night Orchestra.

Mr. Partyka has appeared as a guest conductor with the HR Big Band, NDR Big Band, RIAS Big Band, RTV Big Band Slovenia, Summit Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Lucerne Jazz Orchestra, West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra, Generations Festival Big Band, Zürich Jazz Orchestra, Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Klüvers Big Band, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Sandvika Storband, Milan Svoboda´s Prague Big Band, Oslo Workshop Big Band and the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra ("BuJazzO").

He is currently under contract as arranger/conductor with the HR Big Band in Frankfurt, where he leads several projects a year in a wide variety of styles and genres.

During his tenure with the HR Big Band he has arranged music for and conducted projects with jazz artists Theo Bleckmann, Fay Claassen and Dena Derose, Fado vocalist Ana Moura, electronic jazz group NuBox, Brazilian vocalist Fabiana Cozza, rock-blues artist Chuck Leavell and the pop band Sunrise Avenue.

Also active in the area of jazz education, Ed Partyka has held teaching positions at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany and the Conservatory of Music in Vienna. He is currently Professor for Jazz Theory & Composition and department chairman of the Jazz Institute at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria and teaches composition at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Mr. Partyka was "Artist in Residence" at the West Australian Academy of the Performing Arts in 2006 and has given workshops and masterclasses throughout Europe. In addition, he was "Visiting Professor of Jazz Composition" at the Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland from 2008 – 2010.