„Groove, Weite und orchestrale Kraft“: JJO Sachsen plays the music of Reini P.-Schmölzer

In the organizer's words:

Born in Radenthein (Austria) in 1983, drummer, composer and arranger Reinhold "Reini" P.-Schmölzer is one of the most distinctive voices in European jazz orchestra music. His work combines the big band tradition with contemporary compositional techniques to create an unmistakable sound language - precise in structure, broad in expression.
Schmölzer studied drums and jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and composition and drums at the Jazz Institute Berlin. His career as a drummer, composer/arranger and conductor has taken him to renowned ensembles such as the Frankfurt Radio Bigband, the NDR Bigband Hamburg, the RTV Bigband Slovenija, the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and the Croatian Radiotelevision Jazz Orchestra. As a sideman, he has shared the stage with musicians and bands such as the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter and Michael Abene - a Grammy award-winning composer and arranger who praised Schmölzer's work with the words: "...not only is Reinhold a wonderful drummer, but a first rate arranger & composer with a first rate Jazz orchestra."
His Jazz Orchestra debut album Miraculous Loss Of Signal (UNIT Records, 2012) - created from an arrangement of Radiohead's "Lotus Flower", which won the DownBeat Student Music Award and was commissioned by the Frankfurt Radiobigband - and the follow-up Aerial Image (UNIT Records, 2016) were celebrated by the international trade press. "Jazz thing" called Aerial Image "one of the best big band albums of recent years", the American magazine "All About Jazz" raved about an "...impressionist, a quality he clearly demonstrates as a composer, arranger and drummer...". A new jazz orchestra album entitled "Mountain Time" has been announced for fall 2026.
In 2017, Schmölzer was honored with the Outstanding Artist Award of the Austrian Federal Government. He has been teaching jazz arranging and composition at the Gustav Mahler Private University in Klagenfurt (Austria) since 2019.


The JUGEND-JAZZORCHESTER SACHSEN is a big band at its best. The ensemble, whose stage line-up comprises no more than 20 musicians, has existed in ever-changing formations since 1993 and has delighted both regional audiences and jazz lovers in Canada, Greece, India, Hungary, Israel and wherever else its numerous concert tours have taken it. The artistic direction is also constantly changing in order to give the young musicians, aged between 18 and 26, as diverse an impetus as possible. Jazz greats such as Ed Partyka (Switzerland/USA), Malte Schiller, Jan Schreiner, Janis Steprans (Canada), Milan Svoboda (Czech Republic), Jürgen Friedrich, Carla Bley (USA), Joe Sullivan (Canada), Rolf von Nordenskjöld, Marko Lackner, Al Porcino, Ansgar Striepens, Emiliano Sampaio (Brazil/Austria), Theresia Philipp, Antonia Hausmann and Štěpánka Balcarová (Czech Republic) have conducted the band. The overarching motto is always "Think Jazz! Feel jazz! Be Jazz!"

Price information:

Advance booking: 16,50€ reduced 12,10€