STEPHAN LILL

GUITARS

Stephan Lill was born on November 30, 1968 in Eitorf, Germany. His interest in music, and especially in playing guitar, was awakened early with his discovery of AC/DC and their outstanding lead guitarist Angus Young when he was 12.
At only 15, Stephan joined the band Vanden Plas. Since then, he has released 11 CDs worldwide with Vanden Plas, and performed in shows and tours in Europe and the USA with bands including Dream Theater, Savatage, and Angra.
As both guitarist and songwriter, Stephan collaborated in projects with Missa Mercuria and the Consortium Project. In addition, to date, he and his Vanden Plas bandmates have composed 4 rock operas (Ludus Danielis, Christ 0, Chronicles of the Immortals, Everyman), which were performed at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz/Munich, Theater Münster, Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Theater Pforzheim and the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck.
As a guitarist, Stephan has played throughout Germany in musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, Chess, Evita, and Rocky Horror Picture Show, to name a few.
In 2010, Stephan performed together with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra in the German premiere of Yaron Gottfried’s Concerto for Electric Guitar, String Orchestra and Percussion.
The American-based company TTM Guitars was so impressed with Stephan’s playing that it has been building signature guitars for him since 2011.
Some of the bands Stephan likes to listen to are Blue Murder, In Flames, Metallica, Dream Theater, Slipknot, Il Niño, Dokken, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, House of Lords, and of course, AC/DC.

Other works from Stephan can be found on:

    • Missa Mercuria
    • Consortium Project

TORSTEN REICHERT

BASS GUITAR

Torsten Reichert was born in July 8, 1971 in Kusel, Germany. He started playing guitar in local band in his town, but in the begining he played drums, then when he realized that just playing the loudest instrument wasn’t enought ,got into the bass. He’s a real fan from Death (death metal band), Flotsam & Jetsam and System of a Down and likes lots of upright bass and some early Funk/Soul Amps.

ANDY KUNTZ

VOCALS

It all began when he was 14 years old and traded in the accordion his grandfather had bought him — with his permission — for a lead guitar, and subsequently formed his first band “Rock Zock.” Today the project, deeply colored from Palatine influences, would be described as alternative punk rock with urban roots.

Andy Kuntz, born and raised in Kaiserslautern, is the lead singer of Vanden Plas, now over decades considered to be Germany’s “flagship” in the progressive rock scene, and which continues to perform at world renowned rock festivals including Wacken, Sweden Rock, Bang Your Head, Rock Of Nations/Istanbul, Night of the Prog, Progpower Europe, Progpower Scandinavia and Progpower USA.

Numerous engagements in prestigious theaters, among them: Augsburg, Dortmund, Innsbruck, Kaiserslautern, Leipzig, München, Saarbrücken, Pforzheim, Trier and Wiesbaden, also show that the versatile singer is not only comfortable on the rock stages of the world. His repertoire of roles includes for example, Judas (Jesus Christ Superstar), Berger (Hair), Ché (Evita), Anatoli (Chess), Riff Raff (The Rocky Horror Show), Nostradamus (Nostradamus), The Plant (The Little Shop of Horrors), Friedrich V. (The Autumn of the Winter King), St. Jimmy (Green Day´s American Idiot), as well as his profound interpretations in Vanden Plas’ original rock operas like: Daniel (Ludus Danielis), Edmond Dantès (Christ0), Andrej Delany (Chronicles of the immortals), Death (Everyman) and Arc Angel (Last Paradise Lost).

The first solo album Abydos released in 2004, which Andy Kuntz premiered to great acclaim in 2006 as a “heavy mental shadow opera” at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, established his theater career also as a playwright. It was followed in 2007 by Christ0, commissioned by the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. He wrote a modernized the libretto to Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo and further also contributed musical compositions. Together with Wolfgang Hohlbein, Germany’s most successful fantasy writer, Kuntz brought Blutnacht, an episode from Hohlbein’s – Chronicles of the Immortals, to the Pfalztheater stage in 2012. With our own rock operas, Vanden Plas has created an unprecedented second platform on which we could develop further, become independent and let off steam. All our in-house productions ensured sold-out performances at the largest theaters”!

With the duo “Magic Street Piano,” Andy Kuntz and keyboardist Martin Preiser present original compositions and unique interpretations of songs across the music spectrum from pop, rock, soul, and jazz, to alternative and musical.

Kuntz is also a welcome guest with international gala bands and can be heard as a studio musician on numerous CDs with international artists.

Some of the bands that rotate in Andy’s CD player are: Katatonia, Bring me the Horizon, Soen, Pineapple Thief, Anathema, Manchester Orchestra, Kansas, Styx, Genesis, Sting, Peter Frampton, Tears for Fears, Toto, Magnum and Thin Lizzy.

Additional artistic performances from Andy Kuntz can be found under:

  • Abydos
  • United Artists Against Terrorism
  • Semantic Saturation
  • Hollywood Monsters
  • Neverdream
  • Atlantyca
  • Simone Fiorletta
  • Black Horizon
  • Lady Blush
  • Ludus Danielis
  • Missa Mercuria
  • The Foreign part 2
  • Frontiers All Stars Project
  • Stormy Atmosphere
  • Max Enix
  • End Time Prophets
  • Wolfsherz (in work)

ANDREAS LILL

DRUMS

Andreas Lill was born November 3, 1965. As an early teenager he tried to learn to play bass guitar, but at 15 he started learning drums and the instrument stuck with him. He started a band called Exodus, and he recruited the now Vanden Plas singer and bandmate Andy Kuntz for vocals, and his brother Stephan Lill on guitar. Away from Vanden Plas, Lill has been involved in many musicals, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, and others.

Some other works from Andreas can be found on:

  • Missa Mercuria
  • Abydos
  • Ludus danielis
  • Headcrash

ALESSANDRO DEL VECCHIO

KEYBOARD

Class of ’79, Alessandro has developed his professional career of almost 30 years being featured on hundreds of records, topping billboard charts with his bands, productions and songwriting.

Natural born singing keyboardist, or as he jokes about himself, a keyboarding singer.

Before joining Vanden Plas Alessandro has worked extensively in the hard rock and metal community being part of Hardline, Jorn, and Edge Of Forever, plus his collaborations with members of Dream Theater, Toto, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Journey and producing bands like Mr. Big, Revolution Saints and getting #1 Billboard Chart with Night Ranger for their orchestral album.

He began playing keyboards at the age of 13 starting by playing by ear his favourite albums and when you grew up with Genesis, Queen, EL&P, Deep Purple, Malmsteen, Toto, Rainbow, Yes, Kansas, U.K. there can be no doubt of where your style will lead. Once progged, forever progged!

Other bands are:

  • Hardline
  • Edge Of Forever
  • Jorn