Jazzfest Berlin 2019: Complete festival programme

The Jazzfest Berlin 2019 will be hosted by Berliner Festspiele from 31 October to 3 November. This year's edition focuses on communities, collectives and international encounters. On the four festival days, around 200 musicians from 15 countries will perform in a wide range of formations at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and at four other venues. Based on Anthony Braxton, who as a composer and multi-instrumentalist is a central figure of the free improvisation scene in the USA, a programme with a total of 28 musical acts and an accompanying programme with films and discussions will unfold. Last year‘s partnerships will be continued, and a large number of new voices will be invited. 15 formations or their works will celebrate their German premiere. Five projects are completely new productions: the six-hour large-scale project with 60 musicians “Sonic Genome” by Anthony Braxton as the opening of the festival at the Gropius Bau, the Late Night Labs on the redesigned Main Stage in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on Friday and Saturday night, the European cooperation project melting pot as well as the sound installation “Garden of Hyphae” and the multimedia “Fungus Opera” of KIM Collective. (see press release of August 15, 2019)

A member of the KIM Collective and also based in Berlin is Australian guitarist Julia Reidy. Her most recent commissioned work will be performed by the Australian Art Orchestra in addition to literature-inspired compositions by Peter Knight. On the same evening, percussionist Christian Lillinger performs his “Open Form for Society” project for the second time ever, a painstakingly composed symphony, with eight further international and Berlin-based musicians participating. Also based in Berlin is Turkish vocalist Cansu Tanrıkulu, who celebrates the world premiere of a “Suite” together with her new Melez trio. French singer Leïla Martial and Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana come with their new albums. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and her Chicago band The Brothahood dock on to the main themes of last year's festival – Afrofuturism and Chicago as a musical centre. Sinikka Langeland presents her current project, “Sauna Cathedral”, which is based on traditional Finnish folk runes, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

Other genre-crossing artists at this year’s festival edition integrate musical structures as well as the political content of hip-hop and denounce structural racism: trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, for whom jazz and hip-hop speak the same language, with his “Origami Harvest” project and James Brandon Lewis and his frontline partner Jaimie Branch and guitarist Ava Mendoza in “An UnRuly Manifesto” as well as Texan band The Young Mothers, that has been fine-tuning its polyglot musical concept for years.

The 2019 Jazzfest Berlin will showcase four solo projects. Three pianist of a younger generation will perform: Philadelphia-based Brian Marsella, Elliot Galvin from England and Eve Risser from France. The music by pianist Thelonious Monk is given a new lease on life in guitarist Miles Okazaki’s “Work” project, while pianist Joachim Kühn sets off with Michel Portal and the hr-Bigband on the trail of Ornette Coleman, the ancestral father of free jazz. Percussionist Paul Lovens is a pioneer of European improvisation music, and he will be awarded the Albert-Mangelsdorff-Prize by the Deutsche Jazzunion. In unusual places and a personal setting, the Kiezkonzerte will once again make the artists of the festival tangible.

On the final night of Jazzfest Berlin 2019, Anthony Braxton will perform with his current musical project “ZIM Music”, followed by the politically committed guitarist Marc Ribot and his fellow musicians Nick Dunston, Jay Rodriguez and Chad Taylor. Ribot will mark the end of the 56th edition of the festival with his first performance ever at the Jazzfest Berlin.

The main venues of Jazzfest Berlin 2019 are Haus der Berliner Festspiele with its various stages, Gropius Bau, A-Trane, Quasimodo and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The concerts of the 2019 Jazzfest Berlin will be recorded by the ARD broadcasting stations and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, some of them to be broadcast LIVE.

You can register for the festival as a journalist or photographer with the form for accreditation by 7 October.
Advance ticket sales for the complete festival programme will begin on 10 September.

Ambrose Akinmusire’s Origami Harvest (German premiere): Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet | Koyaki, voice | Sam Harris, piano | Justin Brown, drums | Mivos Quartet: Maya Bennardo, violin, Olivia de Prato, violin, Victor Lowrie, viola, Tyler Borden, cello
Angel Bat Dawid & The Brothahood (German premiere): Angel Bat Dawid, clarinet, vocals, keys | Adam Zanolini, double bass, flutes, saxes, percussions | Isaiah Collier, drums, sax | Xristian Espinoza, sax, percussion | Norman W. Long, electronics | Julian Otis, vocals | Viktor Le Givens, vocals
Anthony Braxton’s ZIM Music: Anthony Braxton, alto sax, soprano sax, sopranino sax | Ingrid Laubrock, tenor sax, baritone sax | Erica Dicker, violin | Adam Matlock, accordeon | Jacqueline Kerrod, harp | Brandee Younger, harp | Dan Peck, tuba
Australian Art Orchestra (German premiere / compositions by Peter Knight and commissioned piece by Julia Reidy): Julia Reidy, guitar | Simon Barker, drums | Jacques Emery, double bass | Andrea Keller, piano | Tilman Robinson, electronics | Georgina Darvidis, vocals | Lizzy Welsh, violin | Aviva Endean, clarinet, flute | James Macauley, trombone | Peter Knight, trumpet, electronics
Brian Marsella: piano solo (German premiere)
Christian Lillinger‘s Open Form for Society: Christian Lillinger, composition, drums, concept | Antonis Anissegos, piano | Kaja Draksler, upright piano | Elias Stemeseder, synth, upright piano | Christopher Dell, vibraphone | Roland Neffe, marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel | Lucy Railton, cello | Petter Eldh, double bass, electric bass | Robert Landfermann, double bass
Marc Ribot feat. Dunston/Rodriguez/Taylor: Marc Ribot, guitar | Nick Dunston, bass | Jay Rodriguez, sax, flute | Chad Taylor, drums
Elliot Galvin: piano solo
Eve Risser’s Après un rêve (German premiere): Eve Risser, prepared upright piano, composition | Adrian Bourget, sound design
hr-Bigband feat. Joachim Kühn & Michel Portal, Melodic Ornette: Joachim Kühn, piano | Michel Portal, clarinet, bass clarinet | François Moutin, bass | Joey Baron, drums | hr-Bigband | Jim McNeely, chief conductor
James Brandon Lewis UnRuly Quintet An UnRuly Manifesto (German premiere): James Brandon Lewis, tenor sax and composition | Jaimie Branch, trumpet | Ava Mendoza, electric guitar | Luke Stewart, electric bass | Warren Trae Crudup III, drums
KIM Collective The Mass of Hyphae – a KIM Collective fungus opera (creation): Max Andrzejewski | Paul Berberich | Brad Henkel | Simon Kanzler | Liz Kosack | Raphael Meinhart | Dora Osterloh | Julia Reidy | Otis Sandsjo | Max Santner | Elias Stemeseder | Dan Peter Sundland | Laura Winkler | Georg Schütky, director | Jonas Hinz, sound design
Leïla Martial's BAA Box (German premiere): Leïla Martial, lead vocals, glockenspiel | Pierre Tereygeol, guitars, vocals | Eric Perez, drums, vocal bass, guitar, sampler
Melez (World premiere): Cansu Tanrıkulu, vocals | Jim Black, drums | Elias Stemeseder, keys
Melissa Aldana: Melissa Aldana, sax | Pablo Menares, bass | Kush Abadey, drums | Lage Lund, guitar
Miles Okazaki‘s Work (music by Thelonious Monk / German premiere): guitar solo
Sinikka Langeland‘s Sauna Cathedral (German premiere): Eivind Lønning, trumpet | Maja S.K. Ratkje, harmonium, electronics | Trygve Seim, soprano & tenor sax | Mats Eilertsen, double bass | Markku Ounaskari, drums | Sinikka Langeland, vocals, kantele
The Young Mothers (German premiere): Jawwaad Taylor, vocals, trumpet, electronics | Stefan Gonzalez, vibraphone, drums, vocals | Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass | Jason Jackson, saxes | Jonathan Horne, guitar | Francisco Rosaly, drums

Kiezkonzerte: Max Andrzejewski | Paul Berberich | Brad Henkel, Isabelle Klemt | Miles Okazaki | Dora Osterloh | Julia Reidy | Otis Sandsjö | Fabiana Striffler | Dan Peter Sundland

Late Night Lab 1 (creation):
Kaos Puls: Petter Eldh, bass | Lukas König, drums | Otis Sandsjö, sax
Mopcut (German premiere): Julien Desprez, e-guitar | Lukas König, drums | Audrey Chen, vocals, electronics, cello
Moskus (German premiere): Anja Lauvdal, piano, synth| Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, double bass | Hans Hulbækmo, drums

Late Night Lab 2 (creation):
T(r)opic (German premiere): Susana Santos Silva, trumpet | Mette Rasmussen, sax | Isabel Sorling, vocals, electronics | Lotte Anker, sax | Mauricio Takara, e-percussions | Gerald Cleaver, drums | Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, bass | Rob Mazurek, trumpet/cornet, electronics | Julien Desprez, e-guitar
São Paolo Underground: Mauricio Takara, e-percussions | Guilherme Granado, keys/electronics | Rob Mazurek, trumpet/cornet
COCO (German premiere): Julien Desprez, e-guitar | Julien Loutelier, percussion | Pauline Simon, Dance, performance | Ana Rita Teodoro, dance, performance | Mathieu Constans 3D video maker/light designer

Melting pot (creation): Mia Dyberg, sax | Signe Emmeluth, sax | Kobe Boon, bass | Zbigniew Kozera, bass | Katharina Ernst, drums (in cooperation with Jazztopad, Breslau / Handelbeurs, Gent / Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo / International Jazzfestival Saalfelden)

Partners of “Sonic Genome”: Tri-Centric Foundation, Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, Australian Art Orchestra, KIM Collective, Trickster Orchestra, musicians from Berlin‘s “Echtzeit” music scene, Gropius Bau.
Supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education and Musikfonds e. V. with project funds from the commissioner of Federal Government for Culture and Media.