Biography
Thomas Kolarczyk is a Leipzig-based double bassist who started on classical guitar, moved through electric bass, and eventually landed on the double bass. He hasn't left since.
He studied jazz double bass in Berlin — at the Hanns Eisler School of Music and the University of the Arts — finishing in 2015. He then completed a master's in Early Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, specializing in violone and historical string bass. Two very different traditions, one bassist.
He's currently a working member of several groups: the Ukrainian folk-jazz band Leléka, the Leipzig-based Neue Kammer (which covers both new and early music), the jazz trio ZANDRRR, pianist Chiyan Wong's quartet, and the Keno Harriehausen Quartet, which focuses on the territory between classical music and jazz. Earlier credits include the Marc Doffey Quintet, Eyal Lovett Trio, Fabia Mantwill Orchestra, The Somnambulist, Roye Ma and the memorably named Gaststätte zum Heißen Hirten.
His Early Music work spans G-violone, D-violone and baroque double bass. He has played with the Dresdner Barockorchester, Thüringer Bach Collegium, Sächsisches Barockorchester, Thomanerchor Leipzig, JSB Ensemble, Leipziger Concert, Ensemble Lachrymae and the Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, among others.
Touring has taken him to Israel, the US, China, Italy, France, Ukraine, the UK and beyond. Competition wins include Jugend Musiziert, Jugend Jazzt, Art of Improvisation (Wrocław), HFM Jazzpreis, creole Berlin, Junger Deutscher Jazzpreis, Junger Münchener Jazzpreis and Nachwuchs-Jazzpreis Burghausen.
