about the band

Voyager IV is a German Progressive Space Rock Band with elements of Classical & Jazz music.

Marcus Schinkel
Pianist and keyboarder from Bonn, winner of the Fusion Award 2017 (Jazzrock TV), celebrates international successes with the MARCUS SCHINKEL TRIO and his program “Crossover Beethoven”, a fusion of classical and jazz. Currently concerts as cultural ambassador NRW in Chengdu // China. He is probably the only person in the world who can freely improvise all nine Beethoven symphonies as jazz and cheekily brings quotes from film music and science fiction. Schinkel is actually a heavy guitarist and a Rampensau, disguised as a studied pianist. His performances not only with the piano, but with 100 partly self-constructed instruments or the “red danger” – a cape keyboard that allows free movement combined with a high level of virtuosity and expressiveness on the stages of the world – are legendary.

Johannes Kuchta
Songwriter and musical storyteller. Compositions for theater or dance productions, commercials, soundtracks for Arthaus films and Netflix. From Kuchta there are over 70 registered compositions on iTunes or Spotify under his own name or as a ghostwriter for other artists. Music production in own studio / label “Phonosphere“. Actually, Kuchta is a drummer, but also has a charismatic voice with a touch of Sting and Peter Gabriel. He shares an obsessive playfulness with Schinkel. The two should not leave unattended alone …

Fritz Roppel
Mr. Bass u. a. for: Charlie Mariano, Nippy Noya, Mike Sadler (Saga), Michael Sagmeister, Jeff Cascaro, Jennifer Rush, Marianne Rosenberg, Heino, Vicky Leandros, Günter Nori’s Big Band. He is the rock in the surf for every project and one of the most changeable and superior bassists in Germany. Roppel can rewrite a complete classical guitar concert for his 6-string bass and perform virtuosically like no one else on his own. He listens and is able to create an indispensable foundation for every musical incident of a fellow musician. He plays the classic upright bass in a suit as convincing as African or Brazilian music. Roppel hijacks every note into the most distant countries and continents. He can do this so well, because he is actually Cologne, but musically everywhere at home.

Wim de Vries
Voted “Drummer of the Year” in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg several times in a row. He is an “animal with sharp-pointed ears and four completely independent limbs” s. De Vries organizes drum solo performances, such as the Modern Drummer Festival in New York. For decades he was one-half of the “drumbassadors“. If he lands right back on the dot after four bars of break, you know he wanted to take you right there. De Vries masters his craft from filigree microgroove to fulminant fireworks. He is a living advertisement for the full-fledged instrument drums.

Band Members

Marcus Schinkel: Piano & keyboards
Johannes Kuchta: Vocals & Percussion
Fritz Roppel: Bass
Wim de Vries: Drums