Christoph götzen

CHRISTOPH GÖTZEN

is a guitarist, performer, improviser, curator, and educator with a primary focus on improvised and contemporary music.

Career highlights include performances at Roulette Intermedium (New York City) and the Monheim Triennale (Germany) with Selendis Sebastian Alexander Johnson’s ensemble, a live performance at Radio Central (Antwerp, Belgium) with Gabby Fluke-Mogul, appearances with Tilted Axes in Detroit (USA), and performances at the N:EAR Festival in Slovakia and Leuven Jazz Festival in Belgium.

Christoph Götzen has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, India and Australia. As director and bandleader of the European Music Collective, he has led numerous residencies, performances and tours across Europe including world premieres at Moers Festival (improviser in residence with Bart Maris), the ContemPLAY Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Banka Studios (Maastricht, The Netherlands) and the Kintai Music Festival (Lithuania) amongst others. The ensemble’s debut album, Sidrabiņi
No.1 (Klankhaven Records), was produced under his direction.

In 2025, Christoph was invited to give masterclasses in New Delhi and Bangalore, India, being likely the first educator to introduce free improvisation at the country’s leading music institutions.

Christoph’s music is guided by an intuitive yet precise artistic voice. He explores sound in ways that align with the free-spirited ethos of improvised and contemporary music. His work spans a broad spectrum—from solo guitar performances to large ensembles—always shaped by the unique circumstances of each project. Collaboration, synthesis, and an ever-curious mindset are central to his creative process, forming a musical identity that is both distinctive and continually evolving. With improvised music as his
foundation, Christoph Götzen continuously develops and engages with a broad spectrum of materials, including composition, conducting and collective creation.

His practice also has been extended through interdisciplinary collaborations with artists from the fields of dance, theatre, and visual arts. These collaborations have included residencies and performances with institutions such as Cooperativa Maura Morales, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Conservatory of Antwerp, European Opera Academy, and others.

As a curator and cultural worker, Christoph Götzen has directed the Strange Music Festival from 2021 to 2023 in Düsseldorf, Germany and also co-curated the Klankhaven concert series in Antwerp, Belgium, together with his former band strange meeting, for one season in 2022–2023 at Rataplan.

From 2020-2023, Christoph studied Jazz-guitar at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (Belgium) and is currently studying Music Performance at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen (Denmark). Throughout his education, he has attended numerous workshops and masterclasses across Europe and the USA at institutions such as the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Brooklyn Conservatory, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Leuven Conservatory and the Conservatory of Maastricht. Notable teachers and lecturers Christoph has studied with at these events include Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Yaron Deutsch, Julian Lage, Billy Hart, Sidney Corbett, Vykintas Baltakas, Liudas Mockūnas, Arnas Mikalkėnas, and Jon Irabagon, among others. Christoph is also active as an educator himself, organising workshops on improvised music featuring international guest lecturers.