Music Network presents the stunning sounds of the Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet.

This hard-swinging yet deeply sensitive ensemble is led by award-winning pianist and composer Shuteen Erdenebaatar, hailed by Jazzwise as “one of the most exciting young talents in jazz”.

Born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 1998, Erdenebaatar grew up as a classical musician but yearned to explore the world of jazz. A graduate of Munich’s Musikhochschule, she has already received numerous accolades, including the BMW Young Artist Jazz Award (2022) and German Jazz Award (2024). Her compositions have been performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and major Mongolian ensembles. She leads three acclaimed projects – her quartet, Duo Lightville, and a 20-piece Chamber Jazz Orchestra. Erdenebaatar records with New York’s Motéma Music and her first album with the quartet Rising Sun (2023) has earned international praise.

Erdenebaatar blends classical precision with jazz to create highly distinctive music full of melodic beauty that speaks directly to the heart. With her incredible artistry and vision, this pianist of the moment is rapidly emerging as one of the leading lights of the international jazz scene – a performer whose star continues to rise.

Shuteen Erdenebaatar piano
Simon Comté saxophone
Nils Kugelmann bass
Amir Bresler drums

About Shuteen Erdenebaatar

Born in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar in 1998, composer and pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar creates a unique sound with her yearning melodies, enriched with profound and expressive harmonies and rhythms. Having grown up as a classical musician, she began her bachelor’s degree in classical composition at the age of 16. After successfully completing her degree, she yearned to explore the world of jazz and finally, at the age of 20, joined the double master’s program in jazz piano and jazz composition at the Musikhochschule in Munich, which proved to be a key moment for the budding pianist and composer. Here she was able to find and cultivate her own voice. This voice is now unmistakably present, and her classical foundation is present throughout, which is evident in her technical brilliance, stylistic finesse and the thematic structure of her compositions.

At the age of 25, Shuteen Erdenebaatar had already won the prestigious German Jazz Award 2024, the largest Mongolian cultural award Mungun Mod 2024, BMW Young Artist Jazz Award 2022, First Prize and the Audience Award at the legendary Young Munich Jazz Award, the Music Scholarship of the City of Munich 2022, Composition Prize at the Biberacher Preis 2022 and First Prize at the Kurt Maas Jazz Award 2021. During her studies she was a scholarship holder of the Orlandus Lassus Foundation and the DAAD, and currently she is a scholarship holder of the Concerto 21 Foundation.

Her compositions have been performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and in Studio 2 of Bayerischer Rundfunk. She has also received commissions from chamber music ensembles such as the Arcis Saxophone Quartet, Munich Composers Collective and the most important orchestras in Mongolia, such as the Mongolian State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Mongolian State Opera.

She is currently leading and writing for three world-class ensembles: her hard-swinging yet sensitive quartet; her exquisite Duo Lightville and her uniquely configured 20-piece, cross-genre Chamber Jazz Orchestra.

In 2023, she signed a contract for three albums with the multi-Grammy-winning New York label Motema Music, which includes all three of her current projects. The first album Rising Sun with her quartet was released in 2023 and has been receiving rave reviews both at home and abroad. She will release her second recording, a duo album with Nils Kugelmann, in Autumn 2025.