.Photograph copyright Dagmar Böhnke.
Born in Oberhausen, Germany, 1965, sopranino and alto saxophones.
From 1982, Stefan Keune studied privately with various teachers starting on the tenor saxophone. He was attracted to free improvised music from the beginning while using classical techniques from contemporary music as the basis of his playing. Keune began playing in local groups from 1985 (with Martin Blume amongst others) and since then he has intensively dedicated himself to the different kinds of improvised music. In 1987, he added the sopranino to his selection of instruments and has been playing it exclusively since 1998. In 1990 he established contacts, first of all with Paul Lytton, then also with Dietmar Diesner, Matthias Bauer and others. In 1991, together with Lytton and bass player Hans Schneider he founded the "Stefan Keune Trio", and in 1992, the CD Loft was released. This was followed by an intense chamber-music-like phase of work, for example in a quartet with Paul Lovens, John Russell and Hans Schneider. He has played in close association with, and feels an affinity for, British free improvisors such as Roger Turner, Phil Durrant, John Butcher and others as well as with the other European improvisors such as Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, Radu Malfatti, Peter Kowald. He is founder member of the "Ensemble Echtzeit" (with Thomas Lehn, Gunda Gottschalk, Hans Schneider, Melvyn Poore, Marc Charig, Paul Lytton, Erhard Hirt, Ute Voelker, and Philippe Micol).
e-mail: stefan.keune@gmx.de