Beat Keller & Michael Thieke

Michael Thieke – clarinet

Beat Keller – electric guitar with feedback

The duo Keller/Thieke explores and connects different currents of experimental music. Their electroacoustic setup draws on both old and new approaches, while the natural flow of sounds preserves the clear identity of each tone. Their music arises from microtonality, subtle timbres, resonances, and controlled feedback. Compositions and improvisations unfold slowly, revealing delicate sonic nuances and meditative details where silence and sound intertwine in surprising ways.

Their latest album, Last Breath’s City Looks Kind Heart (Berlin 2024, released May 2025), features six original pieces that hover between improvisation and defined structures. Prolonged tones, subtle feedback, and delicate microtonal variations create a meditative and deeply emotional listening experience, inviting a contemplative journey through sound textures.

Critics praise the sophistication and depth of their music: Chain D.L.K. writes that the duo creates “a soundscape where the boundaries between tone and silence dissolve, leading the listener into a contemplative realm.” A Closer Listen adds: “Subtle structures, long-held tones, and the balance between presence and absence create a meditative listening experience in which every detail holds significance.”

Michael Thieke moves confidently across a wide musical spectrum: experimental vocal forms, collective composition projects, improvisation collectives, and music at the edges of jazz. He investigates sonic subtleties, microtonality, and related phenomena, favoring long-term collaborations and collective work. His current projects include The International Nothing, Voutchkova/Thieke Duo, The Pitch, Der lange Schatten, Splitter Orchester, Magda Mayas Filamental, loading lift and move, Bruine, Porta Chiusa, The Clarinet Trio, The Magic I.D., Marino/Thieke, and milesdavisquintetorchestra.

Website: Michael Thieke

Beat Keller is a Swiss musician active in avant-garde jazz, experimental, and improvised music. He lives in Berlin and Winterthur and has received numerous awards and scholarships from Pro Helvetia, the cantons of Thurgau and Zurich, and the city of Winterthur. He collaborates with artists such as Joke Lanz, Axel Dörner, Shelley Hirsch, Saadet Türköz, Burkhard Beins, Christian Wallumrød, Werner Puntigam, Jason Kahn, Ute Wassermann, and Cara Stacey. Keller performs regularly across Europe, the USA, Latin America, Asia, and South Africa.

Website: Beat Keller