Simon Chmel is a drummer, composer and photographer living in Leipzig.

 

From 2016 to 2021 he studied jazz drums at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden. There he had lessons with Eric Schäfer, Michael Griener, Moritz Baumgärtner, Sebastian Merk and Sebastian Studnitzky.

 

He plays in various bands and formations and has given concerts all over Germany, Austria and Italy. 

 

He composes his own music for his quartet with Max Diller (tp), Enrico Olivanti (git) and Johannes Fricke (b), which he founded at the end of 2019. In June 2022 the band recorded their debut album, which will be released in spring 2023. 

 

​

In November 2016 he won the Steinway Piano Trio Prize with the "Lion Wegmann Trio".

​

​

Photography:

​

In recent years he has also developed his skills as a photographer. Capturing moods and special moments in order to create memories fascinates him.

​

He likes to accompany artists and creative people from various fields with his camera: musicians, bands, actors, ...

​

 

Previous stations: 

​

Simon was born in Munich in 1994. He was enthusiastic about music from an early age and has been playing the drums since he was six years old.  

 

He first came into contact with jazz at the age of 10 in the high school big band. After graduating from high school, he completed an FSJ - culture in the sound department of the Munich Kammerspiele. In preparation for his studies, he trained as an ensemble leader for popular music at the vocational school for music at the New Jazz School in Munich and completed it in 2016 with an additional artistic examination. At the end of 2014 he became a member of the Bavarian State Youth Jazz Orchestra.