Fred studied 'Jazz and Popular Music' at the Conservatory of Tilburg and eventually became a full-time piano teacher. In 2015, he opened his Yellow Hippo Studios where he welcomes students from all walks of life.

His career as a performer began in 2014 when he was invited to join ZAPPATiKA. This led to him playing Festival Moo-Ah! and Zappanale, and sharing the stage with Zappa alumni Ike Willis, Jeff Hollie, Craig 'Twister' Steward, Ed Mann and Denny Walley.

After leaving ZAPPATiKA, he began performing as a solo artist and also joined the Zappa Early Renaissance Orchestra (ZERO) for several performances across the US and Europe, playing with the likes of Willis, Hollie and Prairie Prince, and with Walley and Steward at Moo-ah in 2017.

During the COVID pandemic, he recorded ZAPPA, an album of solo piano renditions of Frank's tunes. He has released several other albums and singles of both original material and Zappa covers. All of these can be found on his Bandcamp page at fredhandl.bandcamp.com. He has also contributed tracks to six Idiot- compiled albums for Cordelia Records (see Spotify playlist below).

In the past few years, Fred has returned to playing on stages across Europe. In 2023, he played Zappanale as part of the All New Frankly Don’t-Wop Duo and as a solo artist. That same year, he performed at Mosae Zappa with the newly formed trio called HBH (Hollie, Beck, Händl). HBH became The Jeff Hollie Quartet and played two further appearances at Zappanale.

As well as playing Moo-ah with ZAPPATiKA in 2015 and ZERO in 2017, he also played as a solo act in 2019. We are chuffed that he is returning again in 2026, and we also look forward to seeing him back at Zappanale in July, this time as part of the Filthy Brillos and Yo Cats.

Website: www.fredhandl.com