Irene Becker (b. 1951)

Irene Becker is a Danish pianist, composer and teacher. She has a Masters Degree in Ornette Coleman, University of Copenhagen. She also studied world music at Creative Music Studio Woodstock, New York with Karlheinz Berger and Nana Vasconcelos. 

Since 1981 Becker has been a member of New Jungle Orchestra and since 1978 the Quartet Thermænius, which now performs as Dørge-Becker-Carlsen. Becker has played with John Tchicai, Marilyn Mazur and Johnny Dyani and has in recent years collaborated with dancers and poets. She has travelled and gone on tours to Gambia, Ghana, Bali, Siberia, China - among others - where she was given the opportunity to do field studies and get inspiration from the old music cultures of these places, and she therefore experiments with a fusion of Bali-instruments and electro-acustic instruments (keyboards). She has also composed for big band, woodwind-quintet and choir. Becker has additionally worked together with Siberian female vocalist, Sainkho Namtchylak and studied composition with Bob Brookmeyer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.