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Wolfgang Seligo

Pianist and composer Wolfgang Seligo is very much at home in many divergent musical styles. His original music is influenced by jazz, rock, and modern classical music and driven by a funky and powerful sound from the piano. He brought his work onto the international stage in various formations but also solo. He gave concerts in the Forbidden City of Peking, on the Red Square of Moscow, but also in Morocco, Senegal, Chicago and Washington. Other performances include festivals and concert series in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. After jazz studies in Vienna, Wolfgang Seligo gathered his first experiences as a composer, producer and musician in the early 1990s. In addition to his participation in various ensembles in the Viennese scene, he cofounded together with Dhafer Yousseff and Gerhard Reiter the ethnic jazz project "Ziryab" (Extraplatte) which toured in Austria and Germany. He also pursued other activities, including individual activities as a composer and a co-producer for some regional music projects (Ariola BMG, EMI) and working as an advertising and media composer for radio, TV and cinema.

But since around 2000, Wolfgang Seligo has been dedicating himself to concert piano music in combination with jazz, rock and improvised music and elements of classical music and toured with his music throughout Europe and Asia as well as Africa and the United States. The liaison of improvised music with classical and contemporary classical music plays a predominant position in the compositions of Wolfgang Seligo.

Since 2007 Seligo has been playing piano solo concerts and concerts with classical instrumentation (e.g. cello) and improvisation playing a significant role. This was followed by some music releases and the solo piano work "Alternative Jazz Piano", for jazz pianists and classically trained pianists.

Concerts and compositions from 2014 (selection): Senegal Jazz Fest Saint Louis, 2014 - Washington D.C. @cultural forum, 2014 - cultural forum Rome, 2016 - Jazz Fest Wien, 2017 - solo concerts and jazz workshop Tehran, 2019 - opening concert dialog Austria./Slovenia, Laibach, 2019 “Jalousienballet” (“Jalousie Ballet”), commissioned composition for 70ty Years Volkshochschule Hietzing, Vienna 2017 Composition “Sophie” , 70ty Years Franz Lehar Festival, Bad Ischl 2018.

Since 2020 he has been chairman of the jazz composition section of the Austrian Composers' Association (formerly Komponistenbund) and initiated the “Austrian Composers Young Jazz Award” competition, which has been taking place since 2022.

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Two Releases From Wolfgang Seligo

by Budd Kopman
November 5, 2015

Below are two releases from pianist Wolfgang Seligo, who has eclectic influences, boundless energy and technique, with a flair for self-promotion in the best sense. Wolfgang SeligoWolfgang Seligo Jazz Trio Self Published 2015 The four tracks presented here, all composed by Seligo and totaling under sixteen minutes, present a very tight, stylistically varied mainstream piano trio. The first tune, “Major Max" has much going for it in ...

Broadcast Overview (Selection):

America & Asia: CBC Music Public Radio (CAN), CJSW 90.9 FM (CAN), WBRH 90.3 FM (US), 88.5 FM KNKX Public Radio(US), jazz24 - 88.5 FM KNKX-HD2 (US), KPCW 91.7 FM (US), WICN 90.5 FM (US), KHEN 106.9 FM (US), FM Iowa Public Radio Classical (US), Shonan Beach 78.9 FM (JP), Radio Unam FM 96.1 (MX)

Europe: Radio France Musique Public Radio (FR), Musiq3-RTBF Public Radio (BEL), RCN 90.7 FM (FR), Radio Fajet 94.2 FM (FR), RFZ Radio 95.1 DAB+ (FR), MR3 Bartók Rádió (FM) (HU), 1BTN 101.4 (GB), SwissGroove Webradio (CH), Ella Radio Jazz Berlin (DE), Radio Tirana Jazz (AL), RTBF Jazz Web (BEL)

Austria & Australia: Ö1 National Public Radio (AT), Radio Orange FM 94.0 (AT), Freies Radio Freistadt 107.1 FM (AT), jazz.wr.at Webradio (AT), 2SER 107.3 FM (AU Sydney), 2XXfm 98.3 FM (AU Canberra), Pulse 94.7 FM (AU), Reading Radio / 4RPH (Brisbane AU)

Broadcast Overview (Selection):

America & Asia: CBC Music Public Radio (CAN), CJSW 90.9 FM (CAN), WBRH 90.3 FM (US), 88.5 FM KNKX Public Radio(US), jazz24 - 88.5 FM KNKX-HD2 (US), KPCW 91.7 FM (US), WICN 90.5 FM (US), KHEN 106.9 FM (US), FM Iowa Public Radio Classical (US), Shonan Beach 78.9 FM (JP), Radio Unam FM 96.1 (MX)

Europe: Radio France Musique Public Radio (FR), Musiq3-RTBF Public Radio (BEL), RCN 90.7 FM (FR), Radio Fajet 94.2 FM (FR), RFZ Radio 95.1 DAB+ (FR), MR3 Bartók Rádió (FM) (HU), 1BTN 101.4 (GB), SwissGroove Webradio (CH), Ella Radio Jazz Berlin (DE), Radio Tirana Jazz (AL), RTBF Jazz Web (BEL)

Austria & Australia: Ö1 National Public Radio (AT), Radio Orange FM 94.0 (AT), Freies Radio Freistadt 107.1 FM (AT), jazz.wr.at Webradio (AT), 2SER 107.3 FM (AU Sydney), 2XXfm 98.3 FM (AU Canberra), Pulse 94.7 FM (AU), Reading Radio / 4RPH (Brisbane AU)

ALL ABOUT JAZZ MAGAZINE
"Nevertheless, Seligo is obviously extremely talented, both in composition and performance." Budd Kopman (New York) for allaboutjazz

"Typisch für Wolfgang Seligos Musikstücke ist, dass sehr oft lyrische, ruhige Phasen durch impulsiv heftige Ausbrüche abgelöst werden. Beispiele dafür: „Theme No1“, „Romanian Concerts“ oder „Prayer Wheel“. Seligo ist ein brillanter Pianist mit dynamischer Virtualität." Ernst Weiss , Concerto Magazin

Roma
"Questa è la musica di Wolfgang Seligo, compositore austriaco di solida formazione musicale, che vede il jazz come un terreno di gioco aperto, che lascia libero sfogo alla creatività. L’approccio del jazzista di Vienna oltrepassa così i presunti confini musicali del genere, dando luogo a composizioni multiformi, ricche di influssi esterni. Brani fedeli a un’idea di base, costruiti per esprimere un concetto, o sviluppare un tema. Non arrangiamenti di temi conosciuti, bensì musiche di propria ispirazione, le cui armonie a tinte jazzistiche sono talora connesse a tonalità di altre epoche."

Steinway Austria Magazine:
"Bei Wolfgang Seligos Kompositionen treffen sich Jazz, Ethno, Klassik und Rock in einem groovigen, funkigen Sound garniert mit Elementen freier Improvisation. Diese etwas andere, eben "alternative" Mischung erzeugt einen organischen, wunderbar konsumierbaren Piano-Jazz, wie er nur selten zu hören ist."

"Dass sich der moderne und innovative Jazz nicht notwendigerweise immer in der übermäßigen Komplexität und Verkopftheit verlieren muss, um ein interessanter und fordernder zu sein, genau das versucht Wolfgang Seligo in seinen verschiedenen Projekten immer wieder unter Beweis zu stellen." MT, music in austria magazine