About

The Christ Church Quintet was founded in late 2018 in Vienna, Austria, after a few of the founding members gathered a small ensemble to play at Christ Church's Lange Nacht der Kirchen event earlier in the year. The goal of the Quintet was to support jazz-infused worship services on Sunday evenings at Christ Church. While the pandemic slowed down the services, the Quintet has continued to play on Sunday nights regularly as well as put on three or four concerts per year. In early 2022, the Quintet also went on a small tour in the United States, with shows in Denver and Chicago. Over the years, we have had the privilege of working with several former members, such as Oliver Knappl (bass) and Milos Velickovic (drums), guests vocalists Carole Alston, Johanna Cabili-Reuss, and Torri Gordon, guest bassists Martin Melzer and Clara Loibersbeck, and guest alto saxophonist Tomy Molnár. The Quintet is always happy to have the expert sound engineering of Heidi Bobal at Room 66 at most of our live events.
		PETER KYRIAKOS TENOR SAXOPHONE Peter Kyriakos is a saxophonist from the New York City area. After studying music and business at Wake Forest University, he moved to Vienna, where he presently works at the IAEA. As a hobby, he has played in various jazz, African, and reggae bands since 2014. Peter first started playing piano and cello as a young child. At the age of 8, after being introduced to an Ella Fitzgerald record, he decided he would play jazz and, soon after, picked up saxophone. He consistently played in school bands and jazz quartets and quintets throughout middle school, high school, and university. He was a co-founder of the Christ Church Quintet in 2018.
		CHRISTOPHER HUMMER ALTO SAXOPHONE Christopher is a saxophone player from Upper Austria, having started playing at the age of 7. After studying at various music schools and an apprenticeship, he moved to Vienna in 2014 to study jazz music at the Vienna Music Institute. After his IGP Degree, he started teaching at VHS Meidling and offers lessons through a private saxophone school. He plays in different bands around Vienna and has been a permanent a member of the Christ Church Quintet since 2023, having been a guest soloist previously.
		ASEN MIHAYLOV DRUMS Asen started playing drums at the age of 7, inspired by his grandfather who was also a drummer. Originally from Bulgaria, Asen played with several rock bands during his high school years. In 2013, he was accepted to study jazz drums at the National Academy of Music of Bulgaria. In the summer of 2015, Asen toured China playing Bulgarian folk music. During his bachelor's degree, he completed two internships: one in 2016 at the Maastricht Conservatory of Music in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and another in 2017 at the Conservatory in Trieste, Italy. He then moved to Vienna in 2018 to continue his studies at the Vienna Music Institute. He has been a member of the Christ Church Quintet since 2019.
		ALEXANDER PUTZ BASS Alex is an Austrian bass player. He started playing electric bass guitar at the age of 14 in a Styrian school for music. At the age of 20, he moved to Vienna to study at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. Since then, he also picked up the upright bass. He has been or is a member of several projects, including the jazz quartet Black Cats and Cigarettes, the funk/soul band Got'ya, and the pop band Tagtraeumer. He joined the Christ Church Quintet in 2021.
		ROBERT S. KINNEY KEYBOARD Robert is not a professional musician, but a priest, Director of a non-profit organization, and New Testament scholar. In his day job, he is the Director of Ministries of the Charles Simeon Trust (USA). A native of the United States, Robert has degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2015, Robert finished a PhD in New Testament at the University of Bristol in England. His dissertation was published by Mohr Siebeck in the WUNT II series as Hellenistic Dimensions of the Gospel of Matthew: Background and Rhetoric. Robert began playing the piano at the age of 8 and the trumpet at the age of 10, and has played in various school and church ensembles since. He, along with Peter Kyriakos, was a co-founder of the Christ Church Quintet in 2018.
		CAROLE ALSTON VOCALIST (GUEST) A native of Washington D.C., Carole studied dance, acting, and voice at the Howard University College of Fine Arts. After her studies, she undertook tours throughout Europe, including to Berlin (Theater des Westens), Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, Cologne, Paris, Graz, Linz and Vienna. Carole has played leading roles in several musicals: Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" (Kate), A.L. Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" (Mary Magdalene), Mitch Leigh's "Der Mann von LaMancha" (Aldonza), and Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble In Thahiti" and "West Side Story" (Anita). Seeing her, Mr. Bernstein raved: "My God, you are fabulous." In addition to teaching, she regularly performs at jazz clubs around Europe, including performances at the Volksoper, in the Karajan Center, the Wiener Musikverein, the Linzer Brucknerhaus, Jazzland, Birdland, Porgy and Bess, and the Salzburger Jazzherbst. Carole has compiled five solo albums which are available on her website: carolealston.com.