Johann Pätzold

Johann Pätzold is a young self-taught pianist from Rostock in North Germany. He also learned to play 6 other instruments on his own. This (former East) German harbour town has run into financial difficulties since the reunification. The city has been highlighted several times in the national media for racial acts of aggression. Since his early age Johann has been very active in the local alternative scene. He took part in the antifascist social Project JAZ e.V., and fought to protect and support financially the activities of the Volkstheater of Rostock. He has composed music for theater, dance companies and film production. His music is deeply emotional and often a direct extension of Pätzold`s reality. He wrote his first album Minds while he was recovering in Rostock university hospital from a nervous breakdown, which forced him to stop his studies in Physics. His second album Schizophrenia was widely influenced by the NSA spying scandal and released on his own label Gleichklang Recordings one year later.