Open Air | Stummfilmabend mit „Küspert & Kollegen“

Silent films of yesterday with the (live jazz) music of today

A small jazz ensemble next to a big screen: "Küspert & Kollegen" pick up on the atmosphere of classic silent horror films as well as slapstick and melodrama. And are aimed at an audience of the year 2026; instead of traditional silent film accompaniment, "Küspert & Kollegen" play contemporary music full of surprises, alternating between precise composition and improvisation.

"Küspert & Kollegen" reinterpret the films - with humor, great sensitivity, but also expressive power. On the summer stage in the courtyard of the Kultur: Haus Dacheröden, they perform two films at once: "Journey to the Moon" (1902, 16 min.), the legendary silent film classic from 1902, in which a group of eccentric scientists travel to the moon in a rocket-shaped capsule and experience fantastic adventures there, and "Berlin - The Symphony of the Big City" (1927, 64 min.). Walther Ruttmann's film was one of the first to use unusually short and numerous cuts to make the liveliness and hectic pace of the big city more vivid. Designed like a symphony, he conceived his film as a documentary work of art. It describes the industrial boom of Berlin in the 1920s and gives an insight into the living and working conditions of the time.

Werner Küspert - guitar, conception/composition
Studied with Harry Pepl and John Abercrombie, among others. His activities include theater, studio and concert performances as well as teaching. He directs projects for film and television productions and composes live programs such as "Poetry and Jazz".
With his StummFilmLiveJazz project, Werner Küspert has toured internationally on behalf of the Goethe Institute, the Federal Foreign Office, UFA, the European Union etc. and has traveled to many countries on all continents.

The colleagues:

Paul Höchstädter - percussion
Permanent member of the hr-Bigband since 2007. Played with, among others: Rias Bigband, NDR Bigband, Al Porcino Bigband, Summit Jazz Orchestra, Concert Jazz Orchestra Vienna, Sunday Night Orchestra Nuremberg, Bobby Burgess Bigband Explosion, Thilo Wolf Bigband. Sideman of: Clark Terry, Jiggs Wigham, Bobby Shew, Till Brönner, James Morrison, Jocelyn B. Smith and many others.

Henning Sieverts - double bass
The bassist, cellist and composer Henning Sieverts is one of the most sought-after jazz musicians and composers in Europe. Concerts and tours have taken him to all five continents. His discography includes over 150 productions, including 19 as a bandleader.
Sieverts has received numerous awards, including the ECHO JAZZ, the New German Jazz Prize, first prize in the jazz competition of the "International Society of Bassists" and the State Prize of the Free State of Bavaria.

Prof. Hubert Winter - saxophones, clarinet
Hubert Winter is professor of jazz saxophone at the University of Music in Würzburg; concerts and festival appearances have taken him all over the world. He completed his music studies at the Hermann-Zilcher-Konservatorium, Würzburg, and at the New School for Social Research/Mannes Jazz Department, New York, where he lived and worked for a year. He has received numerous prizes, including the Bavarian Art Prize.

In cooperation with the Jazzclub Erfurt e. V.