We are happy to welcome back the remarkable bluesman, singer, harmonica artist and teacher Bonny B. (Cambodia/Switzerland) to present his class on blues and gospel harmonica & vocals. Bonny’s first workshop with us in 2023 was a great hands-on experience which drew an increasing number of students from other classes over the course of the event and his class in 2024 was sold out in advance. Highly recommended for players of all skill levels!

Internationally renowned British blues artist Eddie Martin joined us for the first time in 2024 to teach a much requested class on rack harmonica for guitarists. Eddie is a true master on both instruments and also a great educator, so we’re very happy to announce that he’ll be back in 2026.

And following the success of his classes with us in 2023 and 2024, we have invited Chris Kramer back in 2026 to teach our weekend beginners workshop on the Friday and Saturday.

Long Ti Tian’s class on jazz chromatic in 2024 was very well received by students and we are pleased to welcome him back in 2026. Tian came from China in 2011 to study chromatic harmonica at the Hohner Conservatory before graduating as a BA in Performance Studies at the Jazz and Rock School in Freiburg. He currently performs with renowned Brazilian jazz guitarist Fabio Gouvea and also teaches at the Hohner Conservatory.

Always on the lookout for fresh impulses, we have engaged two great new teachers who will be joining us for the first time in 2026. Dieter Kropp has been playing and teaching diatonic harmonica professionally for over 30 years and has introduced countless people to the instrument. Now he joins our team for the first time to teach an intermediate level German language class on traditional blues harp.

And last but not least, award winning contemporary virtuoso Konstantin Reinfeld will teach a course on Harmonica Today, bringing together styles from pop to classical and showing students how he has succeeded in integrating the instrument into genres as diverse as reggaeton, trap, afrobeats, bossa and even classical and cinematic soundscapes through creative improvisation.

Steve Baker - Festival Director

Festival Director Steve Baker has made his living from and with the harmonica since the age of 22 and is considered one of today’s finest players. He grew up in London and relocated to Germany in the late 1970s. As well as performing, recording and teaching, he has published several seminal books on the instrument and is also a long term consultant to the Hohner company.

Steve founded the Harmonica Masters Workshops in 2003 and has been musical director ever since, selecting the instructors, putting the concert programm together, engaging the accompanying musicians and hosting the concerts and sessions as well as teaching a class himself. After 20 years of this schedule, in 2023 he realised he was spreading himself too thin and decided to step down from teaching to concentrate on running the event, passing the baton to a younger generation of instructors.

One of the things which distinguishes Steve Baker as a harmonica player is his extensive experience as a studio musician in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, which has given him an easy familiarity with musical styles ranging from country and Americana to commercial pop, jingles and film music, as well as the (for harmonica players) more usual genres of blues and rock. His funky, rhythmically accented phrasing, combined with a rich command of timbre and tone, communicates an emotional intensity and depth of feeling which is rarely heard on the diatonic harmonica and his unique sound has influenced harmonica players around the world. Drawing on the blues harmonica tradition, he combines it with elements from country, folk, funk, soul and jazz to create an exciting and individual fusion, which transcends stylistic boundaries while sounding totally natural.

After a lifetime working as a highly regarded sideman accompanying singers as diverse as Tony Sheridan, Chris Jones and Abi Wallenstein, in 2017 Steve decided to begin recording and performing his own music, becoming a singer and bandleader for the first time. He has subsequently released three solo albums of original material on Timezone Records, casting a critical light on our troubled times with highly personal songs which defy easy categorization. On stage he performs them with his excellent band The LiveWires. The combination of Steve’s inimitable harmonica with guitar, bass, percussion and three part vocal harmonies creates a gripping, powerful sound which is characterised by great dynamics.

www.stevebaker.de