Beat Keller

Electric guitarist, guitarist, composer and sound engineer based in Winterthur, Switzerland and Berlin, Germany.

He is amongst the important Swiss musicians in the field of improvised and experimental music. Through the exploration of extended playing techniques, guitar tunings and the use of an electric feedbacker guitar, he has developed a unique musical language.

Beat Keller has played together with many major exponents of the Swiss and international scenes and performs regularly around the world at festivals and renowned concert venues. Concert tours have taken him several times across the whole of Europe, to the USA, Latin America, Asia and Southern Africa.

He is currently a member of the groups TWo DoGS (Joke Lanz & Beat Keller), Axel Dörner / Beat Keller, Saadet Türköz & Beat Keller, KFE (Keller/Friedli/Eden), Kazuhisa Uchihashi & Beat Keller, Werner Puntigam & Beat Keller, Cao-Keller-Siedl, Cara Stacey's Like The Grass and Weiss-Keller-Domeniconi.

As a composer, Beat Keller has, so far, mainly achieved recognition with Keller’s 10, the Haiku String Trio and the NDR Big Band. The releases by Keller’s 10 as well as by the Haiku String Trio were enthusiastically received by international press and critically acclaimed as excellent (among others in Concerto, Jazz‘n’more and Cadence Magazine). Keller’s 10’s debut album won "Best Debut Release Of The Year - worldwide“ awarded by the American magazine All About Jazz.

Educational background: Teaching diploma for jazz guitar from Zurich University of the Arts, CH Master of Arts in Composition from the Lucerne School of Music, Jazz Department, CH  

Album releases on the following labels:  B-Boim, Edition Wandelweiser, Everest Records, Inexhaustible Edtions, Kit Records, zOaR Records, Chinabot Asia, Silken Tofu, Attenuation Circuit, Plus Timbre, Alpine chic, Unit, Full Body Massage and many more.

Sponsorship prizes and awards:

Best Debut Release 2008 (worldwide) for Keller’s 10 awarded by All About Jazz, New York
Sponsorship Award of the City of Winterthur, 2010
Artist-in-Residence, Pro Helvetia, Cape Town/South Africa, 2012 & 2016
Moods Jazz & Blues Award 2013: second prize for Keller's 10
Artist-in-Residence, canton of Zurich, Berlin/Germany, 2014/2015
"Förderbeitrag 2018" from the Canton of Thurgau
Research Scholarship 2020 & 2022 from the Canton of Thurgau