© Gerhard Richter
A duo like John Coltrane with a glass of champagne at the Hilton bar at 3 a.m., or like potatoes with sauerkraut and bacon on a beautiful alpine pasture, or like James Bond's 70s Martini in a Aston Martin DB5.

A duo like John Coltrane with a glass of champagne at the Hilton bar at 3 a.m., or like potatoes with sauerkraut and bacon on a beautiful alpine pasture, or like James Bond's 70s Martini in a Aston Martin DB5.
The Schriefl-Sitzmann duo is a Frisian-Allgäu complete work of art that breaks down all boundaries between Alpine folk music, North German Schlager, thrash metal, half improvised mountain never-ending folk songs called "Gstanzl", Indian music, bossa nova, Bach cantatas, Cologne dialect, and monty python. With electric guitar, electric bass, effects, and acoustic guitar (Sitzmann), trumpet, flugelhorn, alphorn, euphonium, tuba, and accordion (Schriefl), as well as vocals, Sitzmann and Schriefl tackle whatever they enjoy.

The many instruments envelop each other and merge in each piece to form a different duo, each telling a new story. Schriefl and Sitzmann see themselves as tour guides, familiar with many curious shortcuts and geographical peculiarities – suddenly, the Allgäu is very close to India, beyond the Wadden Sea lies New York, and New Orleans is near Cologne.

Bjarne Sitzmann grew up in Friesland (North Germany) and studied jazz guitar in Mannheim, Paris, Salvador (Brazil), and other flat landscapes. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the German Federal Jazz Orchestra, then led by Schriefl, and in 2021, he received a scholarship from the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis Foundation. Since May 2025, he has lived in Cologne, where he founds new bands. Sitzmann's pieces are brimming with inventiveness and attention to detail, spanning all the emotions of human life. In every piece you will find quirky ideas, which always fit together organically and with loving thought, so that despite their complexity they never sound too intellectual.

Matthias Schriefl grew up in the foothills of the Allgäu Alps. From 2000 to 2005, he studied in Cologne, Amsterdam, and other mountain regions. Today, he lives in Cologne, where he performs as a soloist or leader of various ensembles and from where he tours the entire galaxy with his bands (although, due to rising gas prices, he rarely ventures outside the Milky Way).

Musicians:
Matthias Schriefl (trumpet, flugelhorn, euphonium, tuba, alphorn, Styrian harmonica, accordion, vocals),
Bjarne Sitzmann (electric guitar, effects, acoustic guitar, vocals)