Virginia MacDonald - Joe Magnarelli Quintet

In the organizer's words:

Joe Magnarelli (US) (Trumpet), Virginia MacDonald (CA) (Clarinet), Andrea Pozza (IT) (Piano), Aldo Zunino (IT) (Bass), Bernd Reiter (AT) (Drums)

The young Canadian clarinettist Virginia MacDonald is a real "shooting star" of North American jazz. Born and raised in Toronto, she began playing the clarinet at the age of seven. She established herself as a highly acclaimed international soloist at a young age and regularly plays at the biggest festivals and in the most important clubs worldwide, such as the Detroit Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scotts, Duc des Lombards and many more. She has won numerous prizes, including the International Clarinetist Corona Competition in 2020. In 2023 she will be a guest soloist at the 50th anniversary of the International Clarinet Association in Denver. She has played with Harold Mabern, Ira Coleman, Geoff Keezer, Rodney Whitaker and Pat Labarbera, among others, and is a member of the very successful "Canadian Jazz Collective" together with her father Kirk MacDonald. On this tour, she meets an absolute star of the trumpet scene: Joe Magnarelli from New York has been one of the world's leading trumpeters for three decades. He graduated from SUNY-Fredonia in 1982 and moved to New York in 1986. He first worked with the Lionel Hampton Big Band from 1987-89 and then with organist Brother Jack McDuff from 1989-94. In 1991 he founded the New York Hard Bop Quintet and subsequently led his own groups with John Swana and Jerry Weldon. He has also played as a sideman with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Laverne Butler, Harry Connick, Jr., the Buddy Rich Band, Maria Schneider, Grant Stewart, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Ray Barretto and many others. This international quintet is completed by three outstanding European accompanists: pianist Andrea Pozza and bassist Aldo Zunino are among the most booked sidemen in Europe and have been working with all the greats of the scene for 30 years. Pozza and Zunino have played with Gianni Basso, Charlie Mariano, Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, George Coleman, Al Grey, Sweets Edison, Scott Hamilton and Sal Nistico, among others. The Austrian drummer Bernd Reiter, winner of the Hans Koller Prize in 2006 and now living in Paris, has also played with many jazz greats such as Don Menza, Charles Davis, Harold Mabern, Cyrus Chestnut, Kirk Lightsey, Mundell Lowe, Steve Grossman, Claudio Roditi and many more. This outstanding line-up of musicians from the USA, Canada, Italy and Austria is a real all-star selection and guarantees a top-class concert evening under the motto "Swinging Jazz at its Best"!