Teis Semey

Teis Semey (1993) is a guitar player and composer based in Amsterdam. Teis has played live in top venues such as Bimhuis (NL), Muziekgebouw (NL), Tivoli Utrecht and Like A Jazz Machine (LUX). Teis is known for an energetic way of playing, and “is not afraid of taking risks”, as the Jury of Princess Christina Concours said after he won the 1st prize in 2014. Teis also won the Best Coltrane Arrangement award in the Keep An Eye Jazz Awards 2017 and 2nd prize in Leidse Jazz Competition, in which the jury had this to say:

“Teis is a soloist who serves the band as a whole. Interesting rhythmical shifts and creative concepts. The complexity fortunately never detracts from the playfulness of the band. Good arrangements of the pieces that develop as they go on. The stories that Teis tells on his guitar will only become stronger and stronger in the course of time.”

Teis´ music is reminiscent of a wide range of artists; Dmitri Shostakovich, Morton Feldman and Arvo Pärt as much as John Coltrane, Reinier Baas, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Charlie Parker. Present in the music is a constant friction of improvisation and form, allowing and daring his fellow musicians to bloom through the compositions, making the music slide effortlessly back and forth between improvisation and composition.

photo: from artist’s website ‘about’