TOGETHER! Vielschichtiger, vitaler und virtuoser Kammerjazz

In the organizer's words:

Program

A penchant for cross-listening is at the heart of a new collaboration between contemporary sextet hear now berlin (Germany), saxophone virtuoso and composer Ken Thomson (Bang On A Can All-Stars, USA) and bassist James Banner. Connected in the international community of composers and performers active in Berlin, these musicians come together for the first time in 2024 to present music they have created together for their unique line-up, spanning an eclectic range of influences.

TOGETHER! presents new works for the expanded line-up of chamber sextet, saxophone and double bass as well as exciting works by the young US avant-garde that are rarely heard in Germany. This selection will be complemented by music by young female composers from Germany, Sophia Jani and TONALI prizewinner Michaela Catranis. The audience can look forward to multi-layered chamber jazz that is brought to the stage with vitality and virtuosity.

hear now berlin, founded in Berlin in 2019 by American flautist Kelly Watson Woelffer, is a young chamber music ensemble dedicated to innovative, contemporary music. The six musicians from Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the USA are not only at home in classical-romantic orchestral and chamber music, but also have experience in composition, jazz, electronic music and improvisation. As hear now berlin, they perform works by young, contemporary composers who celebrate a wide range of influences and personal preferences with relish.

Their debut album "Music in Circles", released in 2023, has been described as follows: "From punchy and energetic... to shadowy sounds of the night... this is one of the most interesting chamber music albums I've heard recently." (The Observer, December 2023)

Ken Thomson moves confidently between different genres and scenes and has been one of the leading lights of New York's "Bang on a Can All Stars" for years.

Born in England and now living in Berlin, James Banner has had a varied and productive career as an improvising musician and composer. His music straddles the boundaries of improvisation, noise, rock, jazz and contemporary music.

Program:

Gabriella Smith:Maré

Kelly Watson Woelffer: once spoken [UA]

Michaela Catranis: out of midnight dropped more suns than are

Julius Eastman: Joy Boy

Judd Greenstein: together [DEA]

Sophia Jani: The dark and the light and everything in between [UA]

Ken Thomson: Daylight Savings [UA]

artists:inside

hear now berlin - more...
Kelly Watson Woelffer (flute)
Jens Thoben (clarinet)
Paul Hübner (trumpet)
Meike Lu Schneider (violin)
Alexina Hawkins (viola)
Edward King (cello)

with

Ken Thompson (composition and saxophone) - more...

and James Banner (bass) - more...

Price information:

Regular: 20 €, Reduced:. 10 €, at the Box Office and in advance at the organizer's ticket store (discount valid for all visitors up to 27 years, students, trainees, as well as people with disabilities, unemployed and recipients of Hartz IV/social welfare) Free choice of seats