Saxophonist/composer Christian Weidner (b. 1976 in Kassel, Germany) comes from a musical family. After several years of piano lessons, Weidner also began taking lessons from the well-known American saxophonist John Ruocco. Weidner began working with Gunter Hampel at the age of 18 and continued for the next eight years until 2002. In 1996 he received first prize at the “Jugend jazzt” with his quintet Naima, which he led from 1993-98. Weidner began his musical studies at the College for Music and Theatre in Hamburg and then continued as an Erasmus exchange student at the Royal Music School in Stockholm. Weidner ended his studies at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory for Music in Berlin. In 1999 he travelled to New York to record a CD with Gunter Hampel and Nils Wogram, and to study with Kenny Werner. Weidner has worked with Simon Stockhausen, John Schröder, Robert Landfermann, Kathrin Pechlof, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Kenny Werner, and teaches at the Stuttgart Music Conservatory.