In the organizer's words:

CURATED BY JULIA HÜLSMANN

January 09, 2026 | Konzerthaus Berlin

6:15 pm Curator's Talk with Julia Hülsmann | 7 pm start of concert

Zentrum-under-construction.berlin: The fourth stopover of the project from January 8 to 10, 2026 at Konzerthaus Berlin shows the extensive possibilities that the creation of a center for jazz and improvised music in Berlin would offer: STOP OVER 4 - Perspectives.

Ingrid Laubrock, Julia Hülsmann and Christian Lillinger are three renowned musicians who have each curated a concert evening with their highly personal perspectives on jazz and improvised music. The line-up for all three events has now been finalized. Before the concerts, there will be an introductory talk with the curators about their perspectives and the curated program.

SET 1

KOKO Trio

Taiko Saito, Berlin: marimba

Niko Meinhold, Berlin: piano

Moritz Baumgärtner, Berlin: drums

The KOKO Trio unites three outstanding and award-winning musicians: Taiko Saito, Niko Meinhold and Moritz Baumgärtner create a musical space in which jazz, contemporary music and free improvisation come together as a matter of course.

The marimba is a rather rare instrument in jazz - Taiko Saito creates spherical soundscapes over five and a half octaves on it. Niko Meinhold contributes impressionistic depth and an experimental touch on the piano. With innovation and dynamism, drummer Moritz Baumgärtner adds a further, improvisational dimension to the playing of Saito and Meinhold, who have been a team for over 20 years. In their interplay, the trio successfully blurs the boundaries between jazz, new music, Japanese influences and punk - and always creates soundscapes at exactly the right point between introspection and energetic outburst.

SET 2

Gołos x Jasinska

Emilia Gołos, Gdańsk: piano, synthesizers

Zuza Jasinska, Berlin: voice

Gołos x Jasinska is the name pianist and sound artist Emilia Gołos and singer and composer Zuza Jasinska have given to their joint musical project. Born out of their friendship and a shared artistic vision, they create intimate, minimalist music that, in its fragility, nevertheless generates expressiveness and emotional depth. Their compositions combine experimental approaches with song-based structures and fuse acoustic sounds with electronic elements, melodic with atonal. Gołos' contemporary improvisational techniques on the piano combine with Jasinska's voice, moving effortlessly between jazz, folk, singer-songwriter and experimental music - a fragile balance that invites an immersive and intimate listening experience.

SET 3

Pollon with Strings

Theresia Philipp, Cologne: saxophone, clarinet, composition

David Helm, Cologne: double bass

Thomas Sauerborn, Cologne: drums

Axel Lindner, Cologne: violin

Axel Porath, Cologne: viola

Elisabeth Coudoux, Cologne: cello

The Pollon jazz trio has existed since 2013 with a classical line-up of saxophone/clarinet, double bass and drums. In its current form as Pollon with Strings, this ensemble has been joined by a second member: a string trio consisting of violin, viola and cello. Two very different sound aesthetics meet here, which complement, merge and challenge each other.

Theresia Philipp provides the composition, which ranges from jazz and new music to liturgical music from the Eastern Church. However, the project goes far beyond classical notation. The music thrives on the friction between structure and free expression. The musicians have the opportunity to experiment with the written material or to deliberately break with it. The different musical languages of the ensemble members combine to create a sonic universe that is more than the sum of its parts - and creates a state that can perhaps be described as a "home in ambiguity".