About
Michael Kollwitz has been playing The Chapman Stick® * since 1976 and was one of inventor Emmett Chapman’s first music students. He studied with Chapman for 10 years and is considered one of the world’s top Chapman ‘Stickists’.
Michael began playing the revolutionary stringed instrument after witnessing a live performance given by Chapman in Southern California. After years of practice and study, in the early 80’s he began his own performance career. Since that time, he has performed extensively throughout the Southwestern US and has given well over a thousand performances at virtually every type of venue.
He has been an opening act for The Beach Boys, offered full-time work at Disneyland and has an extensive client list that includes everything from Fortune 500 companies to civic organizations. He has performed at festivals, fairs, upscale resorts, fine dining establishments, weddings and many other venues. (You can view 65+ reference letters from happy past clients at: http://www.MichaelKollwitz.com/references )
Mike has also been- and continues to be- featured on numerous TV and radio stations in the Western US and nationwide, including “All Things Considered” on PBS. He’s been featured in many newspapers, magazines and other media. His music was selected for inclusion in the very first CD compilation of ‘Stick’ music and his photo can be found in the first ‘Stick’ instruction book, “Free Hands”. In May 2007, CurrentTV purchased the rights to one of his videos for national broadcast.
Kollwitz has had ten (10) independent releases: 7 audio CDs, a “Live In Concert” DVD (10/06) and 2 digital download albums- one of which was the world’s first digital download album of Chapman Stick music. They are currently offered on more than 30 different sites. “Waterfallin’” (05/06) is his most recent audio CD release. It was the first-ever CD to prominently feature the new higher-range Alto Stick® developed by Chapman in 2005. His other releases are: “Steppin’ Out” (01/00), “Moments” (03/03), “Carnival” (12/03), “Memories” (05/04), “Frosty The Stickman” (12/04) and “Here Comes Spring” (05/05). The digital download albums are “20 Greatest Hits” (10/06) and “Greatest Hits- Vol. 2″ (02/08)
Although he has an extensive repertoire, his music has been described as a relaxing blend of jazz and blues (with a Hawaiian flavor!). The Stick has a very unique, pleasant tone that seems to relax listeners. The sweet, soothing tones of the instrument are said to simply melt away the stress of the day. He resides on the island of Maui in the State of Hawaii and travels extensively to perform at festivals and fairs in the Western US.
* The Chapman Stick® is easily the most radical innovation in stringed instruments since the invention of the electric guitar. The Stick is played with both hands; simultaneously playing BOTH bass and melody parts independently- by tapping and holding strings to frets (rather than by pluck or strum) The essence of guitar, bass, keyboards and drums- all into one instrument! For a talented player, these capabilities allow The Stick to sound like 2 or 3 musicians at once.
