Biography
Born in 1967 in Bad Homburg, Stephan Maass spent his childhood in Bavaria, lived for twenty years in Vienna, and moved back to Bavaria in 2012. Recognized as one of his era’s most in-demand percussionists, he has appeared on more than seven hundred recordings and in many cinema and television scores.
His discography includes multiple gold and platinum certifications; among them is the 2005 Amadeus Award for Best National Pop Production, given for Georg Danzer’s Persönlich. Maass moves fluidly across jazz, heard in his work with Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra and the NDR Big Band; pop, alongside Rainhard Fendrich and Mousse T.; electronic music with Kruder & Dorfmeister; and world-music projects, notably Michael Shrieve’s Drums of Compassion, which united Airto, Zakir Hussain, and Jack DeJohnette.
He has collaborated with Grammy-winning producers and award-winning film composers while producing recordings for Universal and Sony BMG. As a performer and clinician he has taken part in Superdrumming, the Meinl Drum Festival, and the Meinl Percussion Festival, sharing stages with Benny Greb, Ralf Gustke, and Jojo Mayer. Interviews and profiles have appeared in drums&percussion, sticks, and idrummag.
Since 2007 he has taught jazz percussion at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and conducts workshops and masterclasses worldwide. Through his maassmusic label he creates sound concepts for theater, dance, and film, serving clients such as Universum Film, Formula 1, and Red Bull Media House; he has also partnered with theater director Terry Hands of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Between 2015 and 2024 he served on the advisory board of Austria’s Podium jazz.pop.rock… competition. In 2021 he became president of Percussion Creativ e.V., the largest German-speaking drumming organization, and in 2024 Modern Drummer placed him among the world’s top five world-percussion artists.
His discography includes multiple gold and platinum certifications; among them is the 2005 Amadeus Award for Best National Pop Production, given for Georg Danzer’s Persönlich. Maass moves fluidly across jazz, heard in his work with Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra and the NDR Big Band; pop, alongside Rainhard Fendrich and Mousse T.; electronic music with Kruder & Dorfmeister; and world-music projects, notably Michael Shrieve’s Drums of Compassion, which united Airto, Zakir Hussain, and Jack DeJohnette.
He has collaborated with Grammy-winning producers and award-winning film composers while producing recordings for Universal and Sony BMG. As a performer and clinician he has taken part in Superdrumming, the Meinl Drum Festival, and the Meinl Percussion Festival, sharing stages with Benny Greb, Ralf Gustke, and Jojo Mayer. Interviews and profiles have appeared in drums&percussion, sticks, and idrummag.
Since 2007 he has taught jazz percussion at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and conducts workshops and masterclasses worldwide. Through his maassmusic label he creates sound concepts for theater, dance, and film, serving clients such as Universum Film, Formula 1, and Red Bull Media House; he has also partnered with theater director Terry Hands of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Between 2015 and 2024 he served on the advisory board of Austria’s Podium jazz.pop.rock… competition. In 2021 he became president of Percussion Creativ e.V., the largest German-speaking drumming organization, and in 2024 Modern Drummer placed him among the world’s top five world-percussion artists.
Singles
