Monday, 2 November 2026
Stefan Heckel turns 57: Harry Pepl Prize winner and author of the dissertation on the late work
The Styrian pianist, accordionist and composer Stefan Heckel, born on Friday, 31 October 1969, in Graz, Austria, received the Harry Pepl Prize in 2010 at the Austrian Soundcheck in Graz, awarded by gamsbART and Jazzkartell Graz with the City of Graz from 2006 to 2015. In 2024 he presented, at the University …
The Styrian pianist, accordionist and composer Stefan Heckel, born on Friday, 31 October 1969, in Graz, Austria, received the Harry Pepl Prize in 2010 at the Austrian Soundcheck in Graz, awarded by gamsbART and Jazzkartell Graz with the City of Graz from 2006 to 2015. In 2024 he submitted his dissertation “Instant Composing. Das Spätwerk des Jazzgitarristen und Komponisten Harry Pepl” (Instant Composing: the late work of the jazz guitarist and composer Harry Pepl) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) (285 pages, supervised by Harald Huber), on “Cracked Mirrors”, the “Schönberg Improvations”, the string quartets and the Lonely Single Swinger Band. Since Wednesday, 28 October 2026, the work has been available as a PDF on the research page, with his permission. On 15 December 2023 he spoke about his research with Johann Kneihs on Ö1 (ORF's cultural radio station) “Jazztime”.