Schiller

Schiller is an electronic music project led by Christopher von Deylen, a German musician, composer and producer. The band is named after poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller. Schiller won the ECHO award in 2002 for the Best Dance Single of the Year with 'Dream of You'. Schiller has sold over 7 million albums worldwide.

Christopher von Deylen don't provide any vocals for Schiller productions himself. Vocals are sung by guest artists including Sarah Brightman, Moya Brennan of Clannad, Adam Young of Owl City, Andrea Corr of The Corrs, Colbie Caillat, Sarah Howells of Welsh emotional folk / indie band Paper Aeroplanes, Ben Becker, Peter Heppner of synth pop band Wolfsheim, MiLù - also known as Mila Mar, Xavier Naidoo, Maya Saban, Kim Sanders formerly of Culture Beat, Ana Torroja of the Spanish pop group Mecano, Tarja Turunen formerly of power metal group Nightwish, Despina Vandi, Alexander Veljanov of Darkwave group Deine Lakaien, Swedish singer September. Other musicians that have collaborated with Schiller include Lang Lang, Klaus Schulze, Mike Oldfield, Helen Boulding, Kate Havnevik, Damae of Fragma, Jaël of Swiss band Lunik, Stephenie Coker and German actress Anna Maria Mühe. Many of Schiller's albums take over a year to receive a North American release.

Until 2008 several of Schiller's tracks were re-recorded with English replacing German lyrics. The television channel Music Force Europe dedicates a weekly programming slot to Schiller's music; the show is called "Schill-out". Schiller was founded by Christopher von Deylen and Mirko von Schlieffen in Hamburg in 1998. Their debut single Glockenspiel was released the same year.

Their first album, Zeitgeist (Spirit of the age) appeared in 1999 - marking a change from a dance-oriented sound to a more ambient and downtempo style. The album was also released in Asia, with some track changes. Schiller's second studio album Weltreise (The World Trip) was inspired by a two-month-long road trip that Von Deylen took with his father from London to Peking. The album yielded three singles A Beautiful Day, Dream of You and Dancing With Loneliness.

For the American and French editions of the album the lyrics were translated into English and the album renamed The World Trip. Schiller's first live performance was a one-off concert in 2001, some years before their first concert tour. in 2003 Mirko Von Schlieffen left Schiller due to creative differences with von Deylen.