ECM artists have a long history performing in the city of Utrecht, located in the center of the Netherlands. Throughout the year TivoliVredenburg welcomes various artists from the label, along with a variety of musicians performing at the annual Transition festival, organized in cooperation with the renown North Sea Jazz festival.

This year marks ECM Records’ 50th birthday and both parties felt Transition would be the perfect spot to celebrate the birthday of the famous recordlabel in the Netherlands. On Saturday April 6th Transition is showcasing five different ECM artists.

Kit Downes will be opening the festival on the venue’s own baroque organ, which has never been used by a jazzmusician before. Enrico Rava is celebrating his 80th birthday with a special Sextet line-up, with the addition of Giovanni Guidi on piano and trombone player Gianluca Petrella to his regular quartet. The younger ECM generation is being represented by Israelian pianist Shai Maestro with his trio and the Norwegian trumpet player Mathias Eick and his quintet. Elina Duni is performing a special solo show. Also making an appearance is ECM signed trumpeter Arve Henriksen with the Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje, who recently debuted on ECM on the new Mats Eilertsen Trio album.

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