About Leon Winkler
Leon Winkler has been taking saxophone lessons since he was 8 years old, including from the award-winning classical saxophone virtuoso Christian Segmehl and the Karlsruhe jazz great Peter Lehel.
He won first prize at the state level at Jugend musiziert and third prize at the national competition. From 2021 to 2025, he studied music teaching with a major in saxophone at the Karlsruhe University of Music in the class of Peter Lehel. In 2021, he was awarded the Bruno Frey Prize of the
City of Biberach awarded.
With the saxophone ensemble of the HfM Karlsruhe, he received the Baden Cultural Fund's award in 2022 and has been a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Live Music Now since 2023.
With a Bachelor's degree in Jazz and Popular Music, he has been continuing his studies at the Mannheim University of Music in the class of Prof. Stefan Karl Schmid since October 2025.
Leon Winkler gained orchestral experience at the Ettlingen Castle Festival, with the KIT Symphony Orchestra, and with the Baden-Württemberg State Police Orchestra. In 2023, Leon Winkler performed Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto as a soloist with the Collegium a Rhythmicum chamber orchestra.
As a founding member of the jazz quartet Salty Tunes, he is firmly established in the regional jazz scene. In 2024, he also founded the Vogel & Winkler Duo.
Leon Winkler has performed at festivals such as the Young Jazz Festival Karlsruhe, the Waldbronn Jazz Festival, Cool Summer Jazz, the Fest am See in Karlsruhe, and the Amberg Summer Festival. He is also a welcome guest at regional clubs, including the Karlsruhe Jazz Club, the Rheinstetten Jazz Club, the Ettlingen Jazz Club, and the Hemingway Lounge. He also regularly performs in ensembles such as the Crank! Big Band and Peter Lehel's Finefones Saxophone Quartet.
Leon Winkler has been working as a freelance saxophone teacher for many years. Since 2024, he has also taught at the Bruchsal Music and Art School.
He has further developed his baton skills through workshops with Prof. Vierneisel and Prof. Pallhuber. In addition to his artistic activities, he is the musical director of the IMV Grünwettersbach and the bandleader of the HM Big Band.
My path to music
How did I get to music came?
Like many, I started with the recorder.
This went on for two years, and my mother was not entirely innocent in the fact that I received a sticker every week because, thanks to her persistence, I had always practiced my homework well.
Unfortunately, that changed when I continued my musical career with the saxophone. After a brief initial enthusiasm for the instrument, I managed to regularly avoid practicing.
Why the saxophone?
Coincidence! To be honest, because at the afternoon of recitals where we were allowed to try out instruments, it was the only instrument I could actually get a note out of! (So what is now my profession and calling began with a small setback.) I didn't enjoy it. For years, whenever I wanted to quit, I was put off until the next vacation period – until eventually, I decided to continue on my own.
What musical styles have I learned?
I started with classical pieces. I liked them, and this allowed me to acquire the classical sound ideal from the very beginning. My teacher Christian Segmehl, who is a virtuoso at his – our –
Instrument. Hear what a classical saxophone sounds like here .
What music has influenced me ?
Like all young people, I listened to a lot of pop music on the radio, and I wanted to be able to play those songs on the saxophone. But when I came to my class with pop songs, I was told I couldn't play them; they were too boring. But back then, there were
Karaoke tracks on YouTube, so I was able to learn the melody by ear and play it back, without sheet music.
So what motivated me to practice?
For a while, I simply played what I felt like playing, with relatively little system. The first pieces I truly practiced for pleasure were The Pink Panther and Just a Gigolo. My saxophone teacher at music school, Michael Nover, brought me the sheet music for Mercy Mercy Mercy by Cannonball Adderley, whom I still admire to this day.
What came of it? School, university, art, earning a living?
In high school, I took an advanced music course, which I completed with 13 points, and after graduating from high school, I decided to study music teaching. It wasn't until I attended the Karlsruhe University of Music that I discovered my passion for the jazz saxophone. This is the music that still fascinates me today—and which I primarily perform with: in a duo with Lucian Vogel, a fellow student from Stuttgart; with the band Salty Tunes, in which my friend Daniel "Salty" Salzmann arranges classical pieces for jazz; with the big band of the Karlsruhe University of Music; and as bandleader of the HM Big Band in Halberstung near Baden-Baden. It is also a special honor for me to occasionally participate in Peter Lehel's FineFones Saxophone Quartet. Since October 2025, I have been studying jazz saxophone at the Mannheim University of Music to further develop my artistic path.
In addition to my performances, I have been teaching saxophone freelance for many years and, since February 2024, have also been teaching at the Bruchsal Music and Art School. Here, I can pass on my experiences from the stage and my studies directly to my students.
As a saxophonist, I'm also available for weddings, ceremonies, champagne receptions, parties, and other events – including equipment and a DJ upon request. Find out more at saxotic.com.