“Music has the power to express all that words cannot say. It can reflect the spiritual and emotional wholeness of a person. It should be all the more honest.” (Ulrich Drechsler)

Ulrich Drechsler began learning the clarinet at the age of nine in the brass band of his hometown in southwest Germany. While preparing for a classically oriented music degree, he discovered his interest and love for improvised music. Finally, he decided to move to Graz and study jazz saxophone and composition at the local art academy between 1992 and 1998.

Since 1998 Ulrich Drechsler has been living and working in Vienna and within a few years established himself on a national and international level as one of the most successful musicians and composers in the field of jazz and popular music in Austria. His very first project under his own name, the acoustic trio “Café Drechsler”, caused a sensation, achieved several placements in international charts and was signed to the
major label Universal Music. For the band’s second album in total, Ulrich was awarded the Austrian Amadeus Music Award for the best album in the jazz/blues category in 2005.

Since then he has released about 20 albums under his own name, some of which were also nominated and awarded: “Café Drechsler”, his collaborations with outstanding international pianists such as the Norwegian Tord Gustavsen or the Italian Stefano Battaglia, his unique Ulrich Drechsler Cello Quartet (a quartet consisting of bass clarinet, drums and two cellos), his trio with the Persian singer Sahar Lotfi and many
more. In the last 10 years Ulrich Drechsler has performed with his projects at festivals and clubs all over the world. Besides being an active musician, he works successfully as a composer and producer of film music.

In the meantime, he has specialised mainly in the bass clarinet and the rarely played basset horn. His music is multi-layered and inspired by influences from jazz, neo-classicism, film music and electronics, always focusing on the development, power and unrepeatability of sound as an essential musical factor.

Since 2020, Ulrich Drechsler has been presenting all of his activities – which include several individual musical projects, concert series, record label, agency and producer networks – in the form of his ambitious sound world “Liminal Zone” [liminality = threshold state]. An imaginary, creative space of change and innovation, in which everything seems possible, which is constantly changing and in constant dialogue with the changing conditions in our world.

He also works successfully in cooperation with companies from the cultural, business and hotel sectors as a curator and conceptualiser of flexible and future-oriented event and concert formats in the field of local cultural supply.

In addition to his own record label, Ulrich Drechsler is signed to the major label Universal Music and the German jazz label Enja Yellowbird.

Ulrich Drechsler is an official Henri Selmer/Paris clarinet artist, Silverstein Works Pro team member and exclusively uses Theo Wanne saxophone and Bradford Behn clarinet mouthpieces, Gonzalez reeds and Austrian Audio microphones & headphones.