With closed eyes and an open heart, Swiss guitarist & composer Dimitri Howald has established himself as one of the country’s most innovative young musicians. Fusing contemporary jazz melody and harmony with nostalgic drum machines and echoes of Brazilian music, his third solo album ‘Southern Return’ was released on October 4th on XJAZZ! Music.
The previous studio album "Spiritual Cycle" with his quintet Ilja was again, after "Tundra", co-produced by the swiss radio SRF2 Kultur.
An active member of the European jazz scene, Howald’s multi-faceted career has seen him perform at leading festivals and venues around the continent including Cully Jazz Festival, Moods Zurich, Jazzwerkstatt Bern, Sarajevo Jazz Fest, Jazzdor Strasbourg and the Vortex Jazz Club alongside the likes of Ohad Talmor, Bass Drum People, Victoria Mozalevskaya, This is Pan, Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Django Bates’ Humanchain, Euroradio Jazz Orchestra and more.

He received his master degree in Music Performance in summer 2017 at the Hochschule der Künste, Bern.