Stefan Heckel is a native of Graz/Austria. He graduated with a Master in Jazz Piano from Graz Music University and continued to study at London’s Royal Academy of Music achieving a Postgraduate Performance Diploma with Merit in Jazz Composition. He works as pianist/accordionist in diverse musical projects such as Nenad Vasilic Balkan Band, Irina Karamarkovic Songs From Kosovo, Mélange Oriental/Sounding Jerusalem, Otto Lechner’s Vienna Accordion Orchestra, Belofour Accordion Quartet and collaborates with Julian Argüelles, Christian Weber, Frank Gratkowski, Maria Gstaettner and Aziz Sahmaoui among others. He won the Composition Award of East Jerusalem’s Al Quds University and the Austrian Harry Pepl Jazz Award. Stefan Heckel is a Senior Lecturer at the Graz Music University jazz department. He also works for JAM MUSIC LAB and Vienna University of Music. He plays and organizes live music for patients at hospital wards and works as a theatre musician.