In the organizer's words:

Aranda Empire
Irene Aranda (ES): piano
Maria I. J. Reich (DE): violin

Born in Jaén (Andalusia/Spain), Irene Aranda began playing the piano at the age of seven. Classically trained and self-taught in jazz and free improvisation, Aranda has been described by critics as original, amazing and free of stereotypes. She has worked with Don Malfon, Brandon López, Markus Breuss, Johannes Nästestjö, Samuel Blasser, Germán Díaz, Agustí Fernández, Joanna Mattrey, Lucía Martínez, Javier Carmona, Núria Andorrà, Marc Egea and many others.

"Irene Aranda is a sensitive pianist. Her often prepared piano sparkles with sharp high notes. Fine overtones inside, offset phrasing outside - you discover them and immediately want to know more."
Luc Bouquet / Improjazz Magazine

"... the effects that Irene creates break through the emptiness and awaken the senses to a truly impressive improvisation in which the styles overlap, both hands act independently, intertwine and the technique shines in all its splendor ... It is amazing how naturally a composition of such density emerges and how melodies emerge from it that lead to tempo changes and harmonic developments."
Carlos Pérez Cruz / El Club de Jazz

"The Spanish pianist Irene Aranda ... the discovery of the festival."
Sven Thielmann / WAZ Newspaper, Internationales(Jazz Festival Münster)

Maria I.J. Reich is a violinist, composer, researcher, poet and educator - an incisive voice of a new generation of improvising musicians in Europe. Her work combines virtuosity with compositional depth and interdisciplinary research. After studying at the UdK Berlin, studying jazz at the renowned Jazz Institute Berlin and studying cultural studies with distinction, she developed a profile that combines contemporary music, improvisation and research. She has lived in Mexico, Peru, Italy, France and Germany, speaks five languages and moves artistically between genres and disciplines. She has received commissions from Ensemble Reflektor and the Goethe-Institut, among others, and numerous grants from the Berlin Senate and Musikfonds. Her solo album INTERDEPENDENZEN(Relative Pitch Records, 2024) and publications with transcript, Routledge and Verlag Neue Musik Berlin document her independent research and sound language. She is currently working on CARE WORKS - a project about care work in our society.

"She is not only a highly talented violinist, but also - as some of you probably know - an extremely clever thinker. I don't know many people whose knowledge of the nature of improvisation is as comprehensive and true to life as Maria's."
Louis Rastig / A L`ARME! Festival

She "embraces all sounds, whether dirty and rough, touching and lyrical, melodic and percussive. Reich sees the beauty in them all, as well as their inconspicuous and imperceptible interdependence, weaving between all things."
Eyal Hareuveni / Salt Peanuts

Entrance

Main entrance (via the Mokja restaurant)

Reservation

is not required