Helga Plankensteiner

Plankensteiner studied classical saxophone at the Tyrolean State Conservatory in Innsbruck with Florian Bramböck and jazz at the Conservatory of Trento. She also attended jazz workshops with Dick Oatts, Steve Slagle, Gary Bartz, Bobby Watson, Bob Bonisolo, Heinrich von Kalnein and Sandro Gibellini.

In 1994 she appeared as a singer in the Threepenny Opera in Merano and the Rocky Horror Show in Bolzano. Her own projects are the international women's band Fifth Side, the quartet El Porcino Organic, the Helga Plankensteiner Quintet with a homage to Frida Kahlo and the sextet Plankton. She became internationally known with its adaptation of Franz Schubert's Winterreise. She also led the Balkan jazz band Revensch and Barionda, an ensemble with four baritone saxophones and drums.

Plankensteiner has played at important festivals such as Verona Jazz, Nice Jazz Festival , Alpentöne, Jazz Festival San Sebastian and Jazz Festival Bucharest. She was a member of the Carla Bley Bigband and can also be heard on albums with Dani Felber, with the Torino Jazz Orchestra, Mauro Ottolini, Giovani Leonesse and the Wolfgang Schmidtke Orchestra (Monk). She has also worked with soloists such as Tom Harrell, Dusko Goykovich, Valery Ponomarev, Francesco Cafiso, Uri Caine, and the Italian Sax Ensemble.

Tags