Called a “composer with great vision” by All About Jazz and praised for his “stunning virtuosity” by JazzTimes, flutist/composer Christian Artmann is passionate about bridging musical boundaries and showcasing the flute in jazz.

Having grown up immersed in classical music in his native Germany and Austria, Artmann was invited to the prestigious Aspen Music Festival as a teenager where he performed under world-renowned conductors Claudio Scimone and Lawrence Foster and gave solo recitals of Debussy, Hindemith and Bartók. Increasingly fascinated with composition and improvisation, he realized that jazz was his true calling and committed to developing his own musical voice.

Following studies in composition and jazz performance with Laszlo Gardony and Matt Marvuglio of Berklee College of Music and at Frankfurter Musikwerkstatt in Germany as well as collaborations in the Vienna jazz community, Artmann moved to New York where he released his first recordings as a leader, Uneasy Dreams (self-released, 2011) and Fields of Pannonia (Sunnyside Records, 2015), to critical acclaim. JazzTimes applauded Uneasy Dreams for its “vision of confidence”, The National Flute Association Quarterly called Fields of Pannonia a “mythical journey in sound”, and All About Jazz observed that Artmann’s music is “rooted in the notion that art can and will stretch as far as the imagination will take it”.

In the summer of 2017, Artmann went back into the studio to record his latest work, Our Story, with long-time associates Laszlo Gardony (piano), Johannes Weidenmueller (bass), Jeff Hirshfield (drums) and Elena McEntire (voice). Released on Sunnyside Records in May, 2018, Our Story has been lauded for its “perspective beyond boundaries capable of including us all” (All About Jazz), “highly imaginative approach to the flute” (The New York City Jazz Record) and “visionary pieces [that] transcend stylistic borders, connecting Claude Debussy, refined jazz and laid back funk” (JazzThetik, Germany).

Artmann studied at Harvard Law School, Berklee College of Music and Princeton University. He has toured throughout Europe and has performed at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Prague’s Smetana Hall, the Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival near Paris as well as clubs in New York, Boston, Paris and Vienna.

Artmann is a Miyazawa Artist and a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He plays Miyazawa and Kotato flutes and uses Applied Microphone Technology microphones.