The accordionist Marko Kassl (Klagenfurt, Austria) studied with Mika Väyrynen, Roman Pechmann, James Crabb and Mie Miki. With her he finished his post-graduate studies at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, Germany.

Marko Kassl has won numerous prizes; he was awarded a scholarship by the Richard-Wagner-Verband and a sponsorship award from GWK Münster/Westphalia. He was a prize-winner in the Austrian Accordion Competition, the JAA Accordion Competition in Tokyo and the international Pro Loco Camalò Competition in Italy.

As a soloist and chamber musician Marko Kassl performed at festivals and venues such as Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Ankara Festival, Mersin Music Festival, Donaueschinger Musiktage, at the Duisburg Theater, Philharmonie Essen, Köln Philharmonie, Festival Musica Eterna Dubrovnik, Chamber Music Festival Utrecht and Ljubljana Festival. He collaborates intensively with internationally acclaimed composers in order to create and enlarge the repertory for his still young instrument. Among composers who have dedicated works to him are Stefan Heucke, Roderik de Man, Wilfried Maria Danner, Sinta Wullur, Ivo Petric, Bruno Strobl, Chiel Meijering, Philemon Mukarno, Juan Fellipe Waller and Nico Huijbregts.

He is also involved in interdisciplinary projects, for example AUD-VIS, an avantgarde silent movies project of Filmbank Amsterdam. He was musical director at Georg Kreisler’s Heute Abend: Lola Blau, which toured theaters like Stadttheater Walfischgasse in Vienna, Austria. Duo Mares, with violist Esra Pehlivanli, were laureates of the 2009 Jur Naessens Music Award with their interdisciplinary project Volume Nuevo+, a project incorporating contemporary dance, theatre, live video and electronics.

Marko Kassl recorded for radio-stations such as Deutschlandradio and WDR in Germany, TRT (Turkey), Ö1 (Austria), RTV Slovenia and Concertzender (the Netherlands). His album Buffoni, an adventurous mix of original compositions and colorful arrangements of early music, recorded with Ensemble Black Pencil, was released in 2014. The ensemble's second album, Kaiseki, released in 2017, drew inspiration from the Japanese kaiseki cuisine and its culinary traditions. Original work composed specially for this project was combined with arrangements of Japanese folk songs. 2017 also saw the release of the sampler Akkordeonherbst 2016, which included three pieces played by trio: Fire, Rain, and Espresso.

Marko Kassl teaches at Detmold Academy of Music in Germany. In 2015 he joined the teaching staff at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam as a principal subject teacher of accordion.