Iris Kramer grew up on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany. At the age of 9, she began playing the trumpet. When she was 17, friends took her to a session at Hamburg’s legendary jazz club, “Riverkasematten.” That first encounter with jazz ignited a spark in her.
She studied jazz and pop music, pedagogy, psychology, and music therapy in Hamburg and Groningen, Netherlands. In 1984, she co-founded the first European women’s big band, “Reichlich Weiblich” (Pretty Feminine), where she also served as a composer. The band toured all over Europe.
In 1990, she founded the female ensemble “So What?”, and in 1999, the band “Blue Brasil.” For the next ten years, she worked as a theatre musician at Hamburg’s “Thalia Theater” and “Schmidt’s Tivoli.”
Her CD “Children’s Games,” released in 2002, is dedicated to her three sons. She toured Iceland with “Blue Brasil” in 2004 and 2006, eventually moving to the Polar Circle/Westfjords. From 2006 to 2009, she worked as a teacher and performed in concerts. In 2009, she returned to Hamburg, where she continued teaching and working on various projects and bands.
In 2024, her new project is the three-generation band “Iris Kramer Quartett.”
Past Performances and Venues
North Sea Jazz Festival Den Haag, Jazzfestivals: Moers/Stuttgart/Berlin/ Rive de Gier(F)/ Basel(CH), Klagenfurt(A), Amsterdam(NL), Paris: Theatre National de Chaillot, Wien: Donauinselfest, Goethe-Institut: Glasgow, Tschechien, Berlin: IFA, Hamburg: BRT Architekten, Scholz&Friends, Lintas, Vagedes+Partner, Ludwig&Partner, Financial Times, Vereins-und Westbank, Gruner&Jahr, Unilever, DB, SAT 1, Pomp, Duck & Circumstance, Architektursommer, Filmfest Hamburg/ Braunschweig, Düsseldorf: Schauspielhaus/Art Directors Club, NDR-Talkshow, Birdland Hamburg, HfMT-Hamburg, Akueyri Django Jazzfestival, Islandtours 2004/2006, Schloß Agathenburg, Drostei Pinneberg, Hamburger Architektenkammer etc.