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July 20, 2026: Work in progress, site will be updated within the next days, sorry for inconvieniences!

F.I.M. Festival ´26

International Festival of Improvised Music, Oct. 1–4, 2026

Detailed Program

Thu, Oct. 1, 2026: Gallus Theater Frankfurt

7:00 p.m. Solo and F.I.M. Formations + Dance

Max Clouth/Germany – guitar
Chris Corsano/US – drums
Carl Ludwig Hübsch/Germany – tuba
Martin Lejeune/Germany – guitar
Els Vandeweyer/Belgium – vibraphone
Tizia Zimmermann/Switzerland – accordion

Students from FBTanz/HfMDK – Dance:
Alicia Bonell
Franz Xaver Duntze
Marie Houssin
Malina Luisa Stieghorst

+ Guest musicians

The evening begins with top-notch solo improvisations spanning a wide range of musical styles.
In the second part of the evening, the musicians will interact in ad hoc formations with dancers from the Dance Department of the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst/HfMDK).

Max Clouth, born in Frankfurt in 1985, studied jazz guitar from 2005 to 2008 at the Mainz University of Music and from 2008 to 2009 at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He then took lessons with Pandit
Nayan Ghosh at the Sangit Mahabharati Music School in Mumbai and with Guitar Prasanna at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music. In addition, he studied film music composition from 2015 to 2018 at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.
He composes music for film and television, including, among others, the score for “Freibadsinfonie / Blue Summer Symphony” (directed by Sinje Köhler, nominated for a Student Oscar), “Geschichte im Ersten: Der lange Weg der Sinti und Roma” (ARD, 2022—directed by Adrian Oeser), and most recently “Das Leben ist kein Kindergarten” (ARD, 2023—directed by Sinje Köhler).
The double-neck guitars he developed with luthier Philipp Neumann are based on Middle Eastern and Indian stringed instruments such as the oud and the sarod. With his group Ragawerk/Max Clouth Clan, he developed a musical style inspired by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Kraftwerk, Led Zeppelin, as well as Indian classical music and contemporary electronic music.
Together with Frankfurt-based electronic artist Dan Bay, Max released the EP “Voodoo Guitar” in 2020, which has since garnered nearly 3 million streams on Spotify. In April 2021, the LP *Lucifer Drowning in a Sea of Light* was released, featuring Max alongside cellist Sophie-Justine Herr and Kabuki on the modular synthesizer.
Max Clouth received the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship in 2017. Since 2022, he has been teaching jazz guitar and ensemble at the FMW Frankfurter Musikwerkstatt.

Chris Corsano Chris Corsano (b. 1975) is a Chicago-based drummer working at the intersections of free jazz, avant-rock, and experimental music since the late ’90s. He’s been the rim-batterer of choice for some of the greatest contemporary purveyors of „jazz“ (Joe McPhee, Paul Flaherty, Mette Rasmussen) and „rock“ (Sir Richard Bishop, Bill Orcutt, Jim O’Rourke), as well as artists beyond categorization (Björk for her Volta album and world tour, Michael Flower, Okkyung Lee).
Corsano is widely regarded as a truly versatile and innovative drummer in field of contemporary improvised music. He’s built a highly individual musical language via ecstatic free improvisation, extended percussion techniques, and the incorporation of circular-breathed reeds and bowed-strings into something that pushes well past traditional notions of what a drum kit can do. The Guardian called him „one of the world’s great drummers“ and he’s been referred to as a „powerhouse drummer“ by Rolling Stone, an „ace of the avant-garde“ by The New York Times, and „arguably the most riotously energetic and creative drummer in contemporary free jazz“ by Wire Magazine.
https://www.cor-sano.com/

Martin Lejeune
tbc

Carl Ludwig Hübsch grew up musically as a clarinetist in the local brass band; later switched to the tuba. At the same time, he played drums in punk and rock bands. Largely self-taught in music, exploring all kinds of styles such as dance music, rock, and New Orleans. Musical staples: Frank Zappa, King Sunny Ade, Dead Kennedys… Despite all his studies, Hübsch remains an incorrigible autodidact and enjoys a lifelong scholarship at his own university. Carl Ludwig Hübsch composes for small and large ensembles of intuitive or contemporary music and, as a tuba player, is a sought-after improviser and performer both at home and abroad. He studied composition mostly on his own, but also, for example, as aa guest student in Johannes Fritsch’s composition class in Cologne. Hübsch composes for various ensembles, such as the Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra in Cologne, his own groups, or for commissioned works. His compositional work places the performer at the center as a creative force in dealing with pre-composed music. Since 1989, Carl Ludwig Hübsch has performed regularly with outstanding, well-known and lesser-known masters of his craft. Hübsch has published three books featuring interviews with improvisational musicians.
Credentials: Numerous concerts, radio and CD productions, and compositions for theater. Organizer of the concert series “Plattform Nicht Dokumentierterer Ereignisse.” Concert tours to almost everywhere.
More information: www.huebsch.me

Els Vandeweyer is a vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer. She grew up in Belgium and lives in Berlin. After studying classical percussion in Antwerp and jazz in Brussels and Oslo, Vandeweyer became one of the founders of the IMI Kollektief. She enjoyed great success with the album “Snug as a Gun,” released on Clean Feed in 2006. The artist develops solo performances and is also involved in group improvisations and contemporary music ensembles.
Past projects include the Quat Quartet with Fred Van Hove, Paul Lovens, and Martin Blume, “Live at Hasselt” (NoBusiness Records 2013); Pascal Niggenkemper’s Vision 7, “Lucky Prime” (Clean Feed 2013); the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, “Live on Planet Earth” (Alien Transistor 2014); the Serenus Zeitblom Octet’s “Erster Teil-Zweiter Teil-Dritter Teil” (Hyperdelia 2017), Georg Graewe’s SFO Orchestra (Random Acoustic 2020), and the collaboration with Real Geizt/Taktloss (Rumhäng Rekordz 2018).
Current projects include Metal Illusion (with Rieko Okuda), Dead Leaf Butterfly (CD release, Ontmoeting, Jazzwerkstatt 2023), Marvin the Destroyer (with DJ Illvibe, Daniel Erdmann, and Kofie da Vibe), and Stefan Schultze’s Large Ensemble. Her first album under her own name, *Debut*, was released in 2019 (*90% Wasser*). She released a cassette titled *Trash* for her solo project “Trash Guitar” in 2021 (Ediciones Capablanca).

Tizia Zimmermann: From barely audible sounds, soft beats, and the breathing of the bellows to powerful, full-bodied tones and edgy, jagged notes—all of this is reflected in the accordionist’s energetic playing. Through improvisation, she explores her instrument from various angles. At times, the sounds stand alone in the room; at others, they layer upon one another until they take on an orchestral quality. She contrasts restraint with richness, control with a loss of control.

Fri, Oct. 2, 26, Alte Nikolaikirche (Römerberg)

11:30 a.m. Solo Trumpet 1 – Dennis Sekretarev

The Frankfurt-based trumpeter, who is also at home in more traditional jazz, opened the solo improvisation series “Trompete.”

Dennis Sekretarev was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, into a family of musicians and has lived in Frankfurt am Main since he was four years old. Even as a small child, Dennis learned to play the violin and piano and was a member of the Frankfurt Opera’s children’s choir.
From 2004 to 2009, he was a member of the Hesse State Youth Jazz Orchestra and toured with the band in Russia, Japan, Romania, Lithuania, and France.
His music studies took him to Amsterdam, Philadelphia, and New York. From 2013 to 2018, he toured with the band “MorganFreeman” in Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Germany and recorded the band’s debut album. From 2016 to 2018, Sekretarev was part of Amsterdam’s free improv scene and performed concerts with John Dikeman, Jasper Stadhouders, Onno Govaert, and many others.
Since 2018, Sekretarev has been living in Frankfurt again and has released three albums with diverse musical styles.
Sekretarev plays modern straight-ahead jazz, funk, and groove-oriented music, as well as free improvisation.

Fri, Oct. 2, 2026 Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst – HfMdK

1:00–4:00 p.m. Workshop with Hamid Drake (dr) and Elliott Sharp (g)

Elliott Sharp / US – guitar
Hamid Drake / US – drums

Participants: The workshop is open to all interested musicians (HfMDK students and external participants), advanced students, and professionals; open to all instruments, including voice

Cost: Free

Workshop Schedule (among other things): Joint workshop with Elliott Sharp and Hamid Drake, short improvisational concert by the instructors, lecture, discussions, clarification of questions.

Program and Content

The philosophical nature of improvisation
New strategies for improvisation and composition
New strategies for graphic notation
New strategies for real-time electronics
Drawing from his vast experience in experimental music
Intercultural collaboration.

The workshop emphasizes courage not as the absence of fear, but as the willingness to engage with it—transforming hesitation into artistic energy. The workshop will help participants find their own individual voices on their instruments.

Registration is required through F.I.M. Frankfurt: fim-ffm@gmx.net

Fri, Oct. 2, 2026, Brotfabrik Frankfurt

7:00 p.m. SOG

Lina Allemano/CAN – trumpet
Uwe Oberg/D – piano
Matthias Bauer/D – bass
Rudi Fischerlehner/A – drums

The group SOG, featuring this year’s German Jazz Prize winner Lina Allemano, presents finely balanced improvisational music of the highest caliber.

SOG unites some of the leading contemporary improvisers from Berlin, Toronto and Wiesbaden. This is a collective matter, all four are in charge and indispensable at any moment of the creative process. Presence is the momentum. SOGs music breathes calmness and serenity, even in the most animated passages. The flow is always there. Get immersed.

Lina Allemano received the German Jazz Award 2026 in the category trumpet.

A strong rapport between all the players….and never a dull moment. (vital weekly 2024)

8:30 p.m. Ismaily – Sharp – Corsano

Elliott Sharp/US – Guitar
Shahzad Ismaily/US – Bass
Chris Corsano/US – Drums

This is going to be exciting—three American avant-garde artists coming together.

Sharp’s composition Storm of the Eye, composed for violinist Hilary Hahn, appeared on her Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces. His opera Die Grösste Fuge premiered in Bonn as part of Beethoven@250 and his opera Filiseti Mekidesi premiered at the RuhrTriennale in 2018 . His Walter Benjamin opera Port Bou premiered in NYC in 2014 at Issue Project Room and in Europe at Berlin Konzerthaus in 2015. Sound installations include Foliage, Fluvial, Chromatine, and Tag. Sharp’s collaborators have included Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; pianist Cecil Taylor; Ensemble Modern; pop singer Debbie Harry; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; Arditti, JACK, and Kronos quartets; jazz greats Jack Dejohnette and Sonny Sharrock; media artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Many of Sharp’s releases, both new and archival, may be found at the zOaR Records Bandcamp site: https://zoar-records.bandcamp.com/

Shahzad Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer and engineer. Born in Harrisburg, PA, to Pakistani immigrant parents, he was diagnosed with ectodermal dysplasia—a rare genetic disorder that has profoundly impacted Ismaily’s ability to listen, endure, compose and collaborate.
Since moving to New York City in 2000, Ismaily has been a seminal member of the music community. Exploring improvisation, tonal shifts, and rhythmic movement, the Grammy-nominated artist has collaborated with numerous national and international musicians. His work spans a wide array of instruments—from electric bass, guitar, drums, percussion to synthesizers and various sound-makers gathered throughout life’s travels.
He has also collaborated on films, sound installations, performance art and dance pieces, such as the Oscar-nominated and Sundance award-winning film, Frozen River, and Ragnar Kjartansson’s installation, The Visitors. Described by The New York Times as the “Musikfans favorite Musician”, he has recorded and performed with a diverse crew of artmakers and avante-garde musicians which includes: Arooj Aftab, Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Guillermo E. Brown, Nels Cline, Anthony Coleman, Bryce Dessner, Ceramic Dog, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithfull, Faun Fables, Feist, Ben Frost, Ganavya, Milford Graves, Keiji Haino, Graham Haynes, Shelley Hirsch, Jolie Holland, Lonnie Holley, JFDR, Vijay Iyer, Eyvind Kang, Laleh Khorramian, Merope, Butch Morris, Dustin O’Halloran, Yoko Ono “Plastic Ono Band”, Beth Orton, Lou Reed, Marc Ribot, Damien Rice, Secret Chiefs 3, Colin Stetson, Laura Veirs and Love In Exile.

Chris Corsano (b. 1975) is a Chicago-based drummer working at the intersections of free jazz, avant-rock, and experimental music since the late ’90s. He’s been the rim-batterer of choice for some of the greatest contemporary purveyors of „jazz“ (Joe McPhee, Paul Flaherty, Mette Rasmussen) and „rock“ (Sir Richard Bishop, Bill Orcutt, Jim O’Rourke), as well as artists beyond categorization (Björk for her Volta album and world tour, Michael Flower, Okkyung Lee).
Corsano is widely regarded as a truly versatile and innovative drummer in field of contemporary improvised music. He’s built a highly individual musical language via ecstatic free improvisation, extended percussion techniques, and the incorporation of circular-breathed reeds and bowed-strings into something that pushes well past traditional notions of what a drum kit can do. The Guardian called him „one of the world’s great drummers“ and he’s been referred to as a „powerhouse drummer“ by Rolling Stone, an „ace of the avant-garde“ by The New York Times, and „arguably the most riotously energetic and creative drummer in contemporary free jazz“ by Wire Magazine.
https://www.cor-sano.com/

9:45 p.m. Brötzmann – Drake

Caspar Brötzmann/Germany – guitar
Hamid Drake/USA – drums

Founded in 1986, CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER became a significant force in the alternative rock scene of the 1990s. The band’s albums The Tribe (1987), Black Axis (1989), Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore (1991) Koksofen (1993), Home (1995) and Mute Massaker (1999) are rightly so, heralded underground classics, having a profound influence on bands and artists like Sonic Youth, SUNN O))), Faith No More, Rammstein, and Helmet, to name a few.
The project’s music is textural, visceral, arresting and urgent, marked by repetitive, hypnotic intensity, and Brötzmann’s signature guitar sound. Caspar Brötzmann’s legacy lies in his fearless experimentation, dissolving boundaries between classical music structures and amplified instrumentation in rock music.
Caspar Brötzmann was born in Germany and is a self-taught electric guitarist bassist, singer/songwriter, and composer based in Berlin. He has played and toured since the age of fourteen with musicians and groups from Europe, the United States, Japan, and Africa. He created a wide range of music but is especially considered an influential figure in the alternative rock and improv music scenes. Caspar Brötzmann has composed music for theatre and radio.
Often pigeonholed as stalwart in blending rock, noise, and avant-garde aesthetics, he himself claims to draw major inspirations from his love for classical composers such as Charles Ives, Hans Eisler, and Jean Prodromidés. His approach uses the guitar as a brush and the sounds as a canvas to “paint with music.” His albums have been released by Rough Trade, Zomba, Blast First, Southern Lord Recordings, Trost Records, Karl Records, Shitkatapult, Zensor, FMP and Exile On Mainstream Records. His publishers are Freibank Music / FMP / Polarbear Publishing.
The list of collaborators Caspar worked with is long and ranges from classical to jazz to rock musicians, including FM Einheit, Blixa Bargeld, Diamanda Galas, Hamid Drake, Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafson, Jason Adasiewicz, William Parker, Page Hamilton, Stephen O’Malley, Keiji Haino, Thurston Moore, Martin Atkins, Danny Carey, Massimo Pupillo, Komi Togbonou, Michael Wertmüller, Marino Pilakas, Ralf Goldkind, Thomas D. and others.

Archaic, Infernal, Radical, Consistent, Courageous . . .
Since the mid-1980s, Caspar Brötzmann has been shaping an unmistakable sound – infernal, radical, uncompromising. He unwaveringly pursues his own path, beyond clear genre boundaries.
As the son of a famous saxophonist, he found his artistic identity early on and developed a unique sound language that discharges in brute catharsis. His music is not an adaptation to trends, but a sensitive, passionate, almost autistic approach to despair and anger – and yet full of hope.
With his virtuoso independence on the instrument, he is an exceptional phenomenon. An atonal Hendrix, made in Germany.
(Text by Tøni Schifer)

By many Hamid Drake is considered to be a brilliant, sensitive, endlessly rhythmic, intelligent, drummer percussionist,
Hamid worked with Fred in the Fred Anderson Creative Music ensemble which included young greats such as George Lewis and Douglass Ewart. Hamid intensely worked with Fred Anderson from 1974 until Fred’s passing in 2010. Hamid’s flowing rhythmic expressions and interest in the roots of the music drew other like minded musicians together into a performance and educational collective named the Mandingo Griot Society, which combined traditional African music (particularly from the Mandingo speaking areas of West Africa) and narrative with distinctly American influences. The first recording of The Mandingo Griot society featured the world renowned trumpeter Don Cherry. who had a profound impact on Hamid’s life not just musically but spiritually as well. Hamid performed consistently with Don Cherry from 1978 until Don’s passing in 1995. After meeting Don Cherry, Hamid Drake and fellow percussionist Adam Rudolph travelled with Don to his home in Sweden where they spent much time exploring the interior landscape of percussion, while working nonstop to share deeply in Mr. Cherry’s grasp of music’s spiritually infinite transformational possibilities.
Another very important musical influence in Hamid’s formative years was his first Tabla teacher (instructor in Indian music) Paul Raman (Raman Papaiah).
Hamid Drake studied drums extensively, including East. Caribbean styles of drumming also began to catch Hamid’s eye. His interest in Caribbean percussion led to a deep involvement with reggae, which continues to this day.
Now touring and recording all over the world, and in constant demand everywhere, Hamid Drake has played and /or recorded with Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, Don Cherry, Marilyn Crispell, Pierre Dorge, Johnny Dyani, Hassan Hakmoun, Herbie Hancock, Joseph Jarman, George Lewis, bassist William Parker (in a large number of lineups), and has performed a solstice celebration with fellow Chicago percussionist Michael Zerang semiannually since 1991. For 30 years now Michael and Hamid have been
presenting Winter Solstice concerts through Link’s Hall and now in collaboration with Link’s Hall and Constellation Music Venue.
Other’s that Hamid have worked with also include Archie Shepp, David Murray, Bill Laswell, Jamie Saft, Sabir Mateen, Joe McPhee, Jim Pepper, Dewey Redman, Adam Rudolph, Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, John Tchicai, Dave Leibman, Irene Schweizer, Michel Portal, Iva Bittova, Nicole Mitchell, Zahra Glenda Baker, Amina Claudine Meyers, Josh Abrams, Pasquale Mirra, the Italian saxophonist and composer Daniele Sepe, Antonello Salis, Paolo Angeli, Gavino Murgia, Orchestra Maggio Fiorentino and almost all
the members of the AACM. And of course his one his oldest friends and comrades in the journey percussionist, composer Adam Rudolph.
Hamid won the Jazz Journalist Awaard in 2009 and the Downbeat Critics Poll in 2006, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019 as best percussionist. In 2017 he was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des lettres.

Sat, Oct. 3, 26, Alte Nikolaikirche

11:30 a.m. Solo Trumpet 2 – Lina Allemano

Lina Allemano, Canadian trumpeter, composer, improviser and bandleader with an active international career and many years with an engaging presence on the Berlin scene, is winner of the 2026 Deutscher Jazzpreis (Blechblasinstrumente) / 2026 German Jazz Prize (Brass Instruments). She is known for her emotive trumpet playing primarily in improvised, jazz, and experimental settings and recognized as one of the leading innovative trumpeters on the scene today. She collaborates with many international artists, runs her own record label for adventurous music LUMO RECORDS, and leads multiple groundbreaking projects including her acoustic quartet LINA ALLEMANO FOUR, power-trio OHRENSCHMAUS, and trumpet/electronics duo BLOOP. For the past several years, she was named in DownBeat Magazine’s Annual International Critics Poll for Rising Star Trumpet. Lina Allemano Four’s album ‘The Diptychs’ was released at Jazzfest Berlin in 2025. “The Diptychs demonstrates the inexhaustible potential of the chordless quartet and the boundless imagination of one of the best composers in jazz today.” -Dusted Magazine.

Sa, 03.10.26 Film – Mal Seh’n Kino Frankfurt

2:00 p.m. Film „Tastenarbeiter – Alexander von Schlippenbach“

„Tastenarbeiter – Alexander von Schlippenbach“, film by Tilman Urbach, Germany 2023, 106 min.
Followed by a discussion with Alexander von Schlippenbach and Tilman Urbach.
A documentary film about pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, one of the pioneers of European free jazz.

Alexander von Schlippenbach has played a very important role in European jazz since the 1960s. He describes himself—with a subtle wink—as follows: “Maybe I’m a bit of a weirdo, too. I don’t want to go around saying what a great guy I am. ‘Weirdo’ means having somewhat offbeat thoughts and not always reacting quite comme il faut.”
Alexander von Schlippenbach: This represents a major chapter in German music history after 1960—a cosmos of freely flowing sounds and those who create them—centered on a pianist and composer who channels energies and shapes forms. This spans from the pioneering days with companions like saxophonist Peter Brötzmann to more recent musical moments—with his wife, pianist Aki Takase, and his son Vincent, who goes by the name DJ Illvibe. A personal story that also unfolded in Bavaria, where Schlippenbach spent his youth as a refugee. Tilman Urbach traces many historical threads—but primarily through conversation. Speaking about the politically charged year of 1968, Schlippenbach says: “I must admit—I’ve never been to a demonstration. I wasn’t all that interested. I know you’re not really supposed to say that. But we were so absorbed in music that it didn’t really matter.”
The most powerful moments in this film: the intimacy of some of the conversations, the living-room atmosphere, and Schlippenbach’s encounter with his former GDR colleague and drummer Günter Baby Sommer. Here, and in a few joint performances with trumpeter Manfred Schoof, the musical fascination of a style—one that is at times brimming with rousing, raw poetry—begins to sparkle. That’s when it really touches you: the experience of a truly distinguished representative of the genre—Alexander von Schlippenbach.
(Text: Bayrischer Rundfunk)

Sat, Oct. 3, 2026, Brotfabrik Frankfurt

7:00 p.m. Nebbia – Sharp – Nilssen-Love

Camila Nebbia/ARG – saxophone
Elliot Sharp/US – guitar
Paal Nilssen-Love/NO – drums

An interesting collaboration: The young, up-and-coming Argentine saxophonist Camelia Nebbia joins forces with internationally renowned greats of the genre.

Camila Nebbia from Buenos Aires, based in Berlin, is a saxophone player, composer, improviser, visual artist and curator. Described by Jazz PT magazine as “an essential saxophonist of our time”.
Her solo album –’una ofrenda a la ausencia‘ with Relative Pitch Records– was described by the NYC Jazz Record as an ‚innately human and personal album, surprising listeners with a passionate approach to jazz‘.
She has performed with artists such as Marilyn Crispell, Michael Formanek, Angelica Sanchez, Lesley Mok, Kit Downes, Chris Corsano, John Edwards, Mark Sanders among many others.
Part of her current projects are: Nebbia/Downes/Lisle „Exhaust“ with Kit Downes & Andrew Lisle, Camila Nebbia & Angelica Sanchez Duo, Camila Nebbia solo, Camila Nebbia’s The Hanged One sextet, „Presencia“ with James Banner and Max Andrzejewski, DaughterDaughter with Amalie Dahl, Elisabeth Coudoux & Sun-mi Hong, among other projects.
Her work extends across improvised and composed music, collaborative practices, Super 8 film, and audiovisual performance, forming a constellation of interconnected practices.
She was nominated for the German Jazz Prize Woodwind category 2024, 2025 & 2026 and Album of The Year 2026.
Camila Nebbia is endorsed by D’Addario Woodwinds.

Elliott Sharp’s composition Storm of the Eye, composed for violinist Hilary Hahn, appeared on her Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces. His opera Die Grösste Fuge premiered in Bonn as part of Beethoven@250 and his opera Filiseti Mekidesi premiered at the RuhrTriennale in 2018 . His Walter Benjamin opera Port Bou premiered in NYC in 2014 at Issue Project Room and in Europe at Berlin Konzerthaus in 2015. Sound installations include Foliage, Fluvial, Chromatine, and Tag. Sharp’s collaborators have included Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; pianist Cecil Taylor; Ensemble Modern; pop singer Debbie Harry; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; Arditti, JACK, and Kronos quartets; jazz greats Jack Dejohnette and Sonny Sharrock; media artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Many of Sharp’s releases, both new and archival, may be found at the zOaR Records Bandcamp site: https://zoar-records.bandcamp.com/

Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the Norwegian jazz scenes most influential and hardworking drummers. Through his work in several bands and ensembles and through corporation with several of the giants in free jazz and improved, he’s been one of the spear points of the raw and energetic Scandinavian free jazz scene. Since the mid 90s Nilssen-Love has figured on more than 280 albums – 65 on his own label! He has been a central part of bands like Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Atomic, The Thing, The Quintet, Scorch Trio, Frode Gjerstad Trio among a dozen others and an important musical collaborator for musicians like Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Akira Sakata, Arto Lindsay, Dave Rempis, Otomo Yoshihide, Michiyo Yagi, David Murray. Pat Metheny even announced him as Norway´s next president, after performing together in Molde Jazzfestival in 2001.
Nilssen-Love was Born in Molde, Christmas eve 1974. Already at the age of 14 he started playing jazz, free jazz and improvised music in the bands of Frode Gjerstad and Didrik Ingvaldsen, influenced by the music of Art Blakey, Tony Oxley, David Murray, Billy Bang, John Stevens etc

Traditional music:
Nilssen-Love was in Ethiopia for the first time in 2009. This trip turned to be a landmark for him. He has visited Addis yearly since then and has established many connections in music and arts, teaching, performing and bringing artist to Norway for performances. He has even brought together 40kg drumsticks from Norwegian drummers, to give to drummers, schools, and clubs in Ethiopia. Large Unit was there twice and brought loads of instruments for donation.
Another trip which was going to change Nilssen-Love, was his first trip to Brazil in 2013. From this on, he was determined to visit the country yearly of not twice a year. Through the years he has established many contacts all over the country and has made connections deep into the country´s traditional music. North East, Salvador Bahia, Sao Paulo and Rio are all places he spends time in, getting to know the local scene. There is a handful of albums made from collaborations in Brazil (Bota Fogo, duos with Arto Lindsay, Kiko Dinucci, Negro Leo, Paulinho Bicolor´s contribution in Large Unit).
Now also Tsugaru, Japan
Paal´s fascination for traditional music has also taken him to Tsugaru and Aomori in Aomori prefecture, northern mainland Japan.
In 2018 Paiste cymbals contacted Paal for endorsement of their cymbals. As a result of this, Paal has now included an array of Paiste cymbals and gongs in his drum kit. On some occasions he also performs with a total of 8 gongs which sizes range from 24” to 38”.

Nilssen-Love is now composing music as much as he is performing concerts, and he sees this as something that goes hand in hand. He composes for Large Unit, Extra Large Unit, PNL Circus, Murray/Flaten/Nilssen-Love trio, Venter/Grönberg/Vågan/Nilssen-Love qrt, and also for solo gong. He was artist at Sildajazz in 2023 and was given a commission at Sildajazz festival in Haugesund for 2025. He is currently working on a comissiom for VestNorskJazzEnsemble with performance at Nattjazz 2026.
Between tours and recordings Paal Nilssen-Love also engages in the music scene in Oslo. He started the all-Ears festival in 2002, which he ran until 2016 when he chose to pass on the torch. He also started the Blow Out festival in 2010 which is still running as a yearly event. He is also the founder of the new festival at Nesodden called FRAM Kunstfest, which includes all creative art forms. He has also as mentioned above, been running his own record label, PNL Records since 2007.

8:30 p.m. Gropper – Drake – Vicente – Downes – Ismaily

Philipp Gropper/Germany – saxophone
Luis Vicente/Portugal – trumpet
Kit Downes/UK – piano
Shahzad Ismaily/USA – bass
Hamid Drake/USA – drums

A wild mix of outstanding masters of their instruments. Never before performed in this lineup, an improvisational fireworks display is set off.

Philipp Gropper (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, composition) was born in Berlin in 1978 and began playing the saxophone at the age of seven.
Since studying jazz saxophone with Jerry Granelli at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and spending two years as a member of Bujazzo’s concert ensemble, he has worked consistently as a freelance saxophonist and composer, devoting most of his time to developing and realizing his musical ideas.
In 2003, he founded the trio HYPERACTIVE KID with Ronny Graupe and Christian Lillinger; in 2012, his quartet PHILM, currently featuring Elias Stemeseder, Robert Landfermann, and Leif Berger; and in 2013, exploring yet another entirely different musical world, the electroacoustic band TAU5 with Philipp Zoubek, Petter Eldh, Ludwig Wandinger, and Moritz Baumgärtner. He launched another collective band in 2020 with Grischa Lichtenberger and Gaia Mattiuzzi.
Concerts with these bands and as a sideman have taken him to over 40 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America. He has had the honor of performing with such wonderful musicians as Ralph Towner, Jim Black, Bobby McFerrin, Kresten Osgood, Nasheet Waits, Evi Filippou, Olaf Rupp, Ceylan Ertem, Maria Joao, Paulo Cardoso, James Knapp, Kaja Drachsler, Kit Downes, Dan Nicholls, Günter “Baby” Sommer, Axel Dörner, Mat Maneri, Matthew Herbert, Changuito, DJ IllVibe, Bilderbuch, Marc Ducret, Nils Petter Molvaer, Ibadet Ramadani, SEEED, Peter Evans, and many others.
As a sideman, he plays with Wanja Slavin’s Lotus Eaters, Pablo Held’s Glow, The Killing Popes, Home Stretch, the European Movement Jazz Orchestra, and many others.
Philipp Gropper has recorded over 60 albums and is a prize winner in various competitions.
In connection with his musical work, he is actively involved in social and cultural-political issues; he sees community and collective work as the answer to many problems and the path to the future. For example, he played a key role in founding IG Jazz Berlin, the association to save the Musikhaus Forsterstraße, a Germany-wide initiative addressing classism in music, and the meta-community “Future Bloom,” as well as in the renewal of the DJU; he is a member of the Jazzkollektiv Berlin and the Future Bash Collective.
No matter where his music evolves or how it sounds, Philipp Gropper always views it as an engagement with African American music.
(https://philippgropper.com/#/home)

Luís Vicente is a Portuguese trumpeter with an intense and diverse creative output over the last decade.
He has built a strong career in recent years, travelling all over Europe, North America and China, participating in its most dynamic musical
scenes and recording more than 50 albums as a leader and sideman. Journalists and critics have written about his music and recognised his uniqueness as a musician and
composer. Luís Vicente
Vicente leads a trio with Gonçalo Almeida and Pedro Melo Alves; he’s part of a quartet alongside the legendary
William Parker, John Dikeman and Hamid Drake; and, in 2023, with the support of DGArtes, he released House in
the Valley, his 4tet debut album, featuring John Dikeman, William Parker and Onno Govaert.

Kit Downes is a BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated solo recordingartist for ECM Records. He has toured the world playing piano, church organ and harmonium with his own bands (‘ENEMY’, ‘Troyka’ and ‘Elt’) as well as with artists such as Squarepusher, Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille, Sofia Jernberg, Benny Greb, Mica Levi and Sam Amidon.
An organ scholar at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich whilst growing up, he is now living in Berlin, and performs solo pipe organ and solo piano concerts – as well as playing in collaborations with saxophonist Tom Challenger, cellist Lucy Railton, composer Shiva Feshareki, saxophonist Ben v an Gelder and with the band ‘ENEMY’ (with Petter Eldh and James Maddren). He is also currently working with violinist Aidan O’Rourke, drummer Seb Rochford,composer Max de Wardener and in the organ trio ‘Deadeye’ with Reinier Baas and Jonas Burgwinkel. He has written commissions for Cheltenham Music Festival, London Contemporary Orchestra, Biel Organ Festival, Ensemble Klang at ReWire Festival, the Scottish Ensemble, Cologne Philharmonie and the Wellcome Trust. He also performed as part of the National Theatre production of ‘Network’ from 2017-2018, featuring actor Bryan Cranston. He has performed solo organ concerts at the Elb Philharmonie in Hamburg, Lausanne Cathedral, Flagey in Brussels, the Royal Albert Hall in London as well as the Southbank Royal Festival Hall, Rochester Jazz Festival (US), St Olafs Minneapolis (US), Stavanger Konserthus, Aarhus Philharmonic Musikhuset, Darmstadt Organ Festival, Stuttgart Organ Festival, Laurenskerke in Rotterdam, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Berlin Jazz Festival, and the BBC Proms amongst many others.
He holds a Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he himself studied and now teaches. He has twice been awarded 1st place in Downbeat’s Critics Poll Rising Star for Organ and Keyboard categories respectively, and his ECM records ‘Obsidian‘, ‘Dreamlife of Debris‘ and ‘Vermillion‘ have been released to much critical acclaim.
www.kitdownes.com

By many Hamid Drake is considered to be a brilliant, sensitive, endlessly rhythmic, intelligent, drummer percussionist, Hamid was born in 1955 in Monroe, Louisiana, and his Family moved to Evanston, Illinois when he was a child.
Hamid worked with Fred in the Fred Anderson Creative Music ensemble which included young greats such as George Lewis and Douglass Ewart. Hamid intensely worked with Fred Anderson from 1974 until Fred’s passing in 2010. Hamid’s flowing rhythmic expressions and interest in the roots of the music drew other like minded musicians together into a performance and educational collective named the Mandingo Griot Society, which combined traditional African music (particularly from the Mandingo speaking areas of West Africa) and narrative with distinctly American influences. The first recording of The Mandingo Griot society featured the world renowned trumpeter Don Cherry. who had a profound impact on Hamid’s life not just musically but spiritually as well. Hamid performed consistently with Don Cherry from 1978 until Don’s passing in 1995. After meeting Don Cherry, Hamid Drake and fellow percussionist Adam Rudolph travelled with Don to his home in Sweden where they spent much time exploring the interior landscape of percussion, while working nonstop to share deeply in Mr. Cherry’s grasp of music’s spiritually infinite transformational possibilities.
Another very important musical influence in Hamid’s formative years was his first Tabla teacher (instructor in Indian music) Paul Raman (Raman Papaiah).
Hamid Drake studied drums extensively, including East. Caribbean styles of drumming also began to catch Hamid’s eye. His interest in Caribbean percussion led to a deep involvement with reggae, which continues to this day.
Now touring and recording all over the world, and in constant demand everywhere, Hamid Drake has played and /or recorded with Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, Don Cherry, Marilyn Crispell, Pierre Dorge, Johnny Dyani, Hassan Hakmoun, Herbie Hancock, Joseph Jarman, George Lewis, bassist William Parker (in a large number of lineups), and has performed a solstice celebration with fellow Chicago percussionist Michael Zerang semiannually since 1991. For 30 years now Michael and Hamid have been
presenting Winter Solstice concerts through Link’s Hall and now in collaboration with Link’s Hall and Constellation Music Venue.
Other’s that Hamid have worked with also include Archie Shepp, David Murray, Bill Laswell, Jamie Saft, Sabir Mateen, Joe McPhee, Jim Pepper, Dewey Redman, Adam Rudolph, Pharoah Sanders, Foday Musa Suso, John Tchicai, Dave Leibman, Irene Schweizer, Michel Portal, Iva Bittova, Nicole Mitchell, Zahra Glenda Baker, Amina Claudine Meyers, Josh Abrams, Pasquale Mirra, the Italian saxophonist and composer Daniele Sepe, Antonello Salis, Paolo Angeli, Gavino Murgia, Orchestra Maggio Fiorentino and almost all
the members of the AACM. And of course his one his oldest friends and comrades in the journey percussionist, composer Adam Rudolph.
Hamid won the Jazz Journalist Awaard in 2009 and the Downbeat Critics Poll in 2006, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019 as best percussionist. In 2017 he was awarded the title of Chevalier Des Arts et des lettres.
Though a large portion of Hamid’s has been the role of a sideman, he is now also devoting his energies and creativity as band leader and co-leader focusing on his own groups and projects such as Bindu, Indigenous Mind and The honoring of Alice Coltrane Project (Premiere in 2022).

10:00 p.m. Railton – Bang – Aarset

Lucy Railton/GB – cello, electronics.
Jan Bang/NO – live sampling, programming
Eivind Aarset/NO – guitar, electronics

Later in the evening, the focus shifts to electronic music. British cellist Lucy Railton—who began with a classical background and has since gradually expanded into improvisation and electronic music—joins forces with the well-established Nordic electronic music duo Jan Bang and Eivind Aarset.

Lucy Railton, Berlin/London based, has been an active performer, programmer and music maker since 2008, releasing albums on Modern Love, Editions Mego – GRM Portraits, PAN, ECM, Shelter Press and Takuroku. Over the years she has performed and recorded with creators from a range of disciplines including Kit Downes, Catherine Lamb, Rebecca Salvadori, Peter Zinovieff, Beatrice Dillon, Kali Malone, Sofia Jernberg, Christian Lillinger, Rhodri Davies, Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith, Alison Knowles, the Tate Modern, Blank Forms, the ICA, the Harmonic Space Orchestra and the Ever Present Orchestra. She has been commissioned by Somerset House, Borealis Festival and INA GRM, Paris and has been a resident at EMS, Sweden and Dark Ecologies/Sonic Acts Norway, and has been involved in presentations of work by Maryanne Amacher and Henning Christiansen amongst many other productions during her time as co-director at London Contemporary Music Festival and Kammer Klang.

Jan Bang (b.1968) is a Norwegian musician and record producer, known from several solo albums under his own name and collaborations over many years with musicians like Eivind Aarset, Hamid Drake, Sidsel Endresen, Jon Hassell, Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvær, Sly & Robbie, David Sylvian, Tigran Hamasyan and Ensemble Modern.
Jan Bang has since 1986 collaborated with Erik Honoré. Together they co-founded the Punkt festival with in 2005. He is one of Norway’s most accomplished and influential producers and the epithet electronics wizard has stayed with him for a long time and with good reason. Bang is the kind of musical innovator and bridge-builder who consistently manages to balance progressive thinking with popular appeal. He is always looking for ways of moving music and people forward, and by creating new meeting places and musical intersections.
Jan Bangs “Reading the Air” album was released in January 2024 won the prestigious Deutsches Schallplatten kritikerpreise (termine II) in the Electronic & Experimental category.
Website: https://janbang.org

Eivind Aarset is a guitarist with a unique musical vision that absorbs and reflects all manner of music while retaining an enviable individualism and high quality craftsmanship that can span from quiet intimacy to searing intensity. He is a musician who has succeeded in the difficult task of creating an immediately identifiable sound and marrying it to a will to investigate as many musical possibilities as he can find or imagine.
His debut as a bandleader on Jazzland Recordings was described by the New York Times as „One of the best post-Miles electric jazz albums,“ and he has continued to gain international recognition through both recordings and live performances. As one of Norway’s most in-demand guitarists, Eivind Aarset has worked with Jon Hassell,
David Sylvian, Laurie Anderdson, Bill Laswell, Sly & Robbie, Tigran Hamasyan, Michiyo Yagi, Jan Garbarek, Michele Rabbia, Marilyn Mazur, Andy Sheppard, Jan Bang and Arve Henriksen to name a few. He has worked with Nils Petter Molvaer’s band, (appearing on all of Molvaer’s albums up to 2010, including the breakthrough album «Khmer“). And not at least, he has a long lasting collaboration with Dhafer Youssef, both live and in the studio.
Aarset has released 17 albums as a leader and co-leader

11:30 p.m. Electronic set – Anushka Chkheidze / GE

The evening will conclude with a performance by Georgian musician Anushka Chkheizde. As one of her country’s greatest musical talents, she combines various electronic textures, minimalist sequences, and complex rhythms into a cohesive musical whole.

Anushka Chkheidze, Born in Tbilisi in 1997, Georgian artist Anushka Chkheidze is regarded as one of the most promising talents far beyond her country’s borders.
Raised in the small village of Kharagauli, she began singing in a choir at the age of 11. She describes this time as magical and is convinced that her music is strongly influenced by those childhood years.
Anushka Chkheidze is shaping a new wave of contemporary Caucasian music. She operates at the intersection of electronic music, electroacoustic composition, and experimental pop aesthetics. Her works combine delicate textures, complex rhythmic structures, and a distinctive sonic sensibility. Through her solo live sets, Anushka Chkheidze creates an immersive world of minimalism and IDM, blending tranquil synthesizer sounds with complex rhythms, thereby establishing herself as one of the most distinctive voices of the emerging Georgian electronic music scene.
After releasing her first tracks on the compilation Sleepers Poets Scientists curated by Natalie Beridze in 2019, her debut album “Halfie” followed in April 2020. In February 2021, she released the album “Move 20-21,” which was created during the pandemic and addresses the absence of physical movement and interaction with other people. In 2023, the album Lost Luggage was released. The recordings (which featured piano and choir, among other instrumentation) were made in the newly renovated and still empty Biological Research Center at the University of Basel and culminated in the 2024 album Clean, Clear and White.
Anushka Chkheidze is a regular guest at international cross-genre festivals, where she performs not only as a solo artist but also in various constellations (like US trumpeter Peter Evans and Scottish musician Brìghde Chaimbeul, or Dutch percussionist Jonathan Bonny, or Georgian drummer Daniel Adikashvili) and with site-specific sound installations Lost Lullaby, Monheim Triennale 2023 / See Me Tatort Paderborn 2025 / Hacked Voices Situations @ Darmstadt Summer Courses 2025).
Anushka Chkheidze’s composition for a MIDI organ, “Intricate Pipes,” was commissioned jointly by the Monheim Triennale and the Gaudeamus Festival and premiered at the Monheim Triennale 2025 on an analog organ with Orgamats. “Intricate Pipes” is a composition with polyphonic counterpoints, complex arpeggios, and precisely timed delays. The pipe organ becomes part of an electronic system in which structure, timing, and harmony open up new dimensions.
The collaboration with Berlin musician Robert Lippok began in 2019, and finally resulted in their album Uncontrollable Thoughts which was released on Morr Music on October 31, 2025. Since then, both artists have performed at various festivals and were invited to participate in various projects Sky was Out of Tune, Nationalgalerie Berlin 2025, Approximation Festival 2025, Düsseldorf / Open-Close-Open, Hellerau Dresden 2025).
Anushka Chkheidze is currently based in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Sun, Oct. 4, 26 Alte Nikolaikirche

11:30 a.m. Solo Trumpet 3 – Luís Vicente

In high demand and as active on the European improv scene as almost anyone else, Portuguese trumpeter Luís Vicente concludes the “Trumpet” solo series.

Sun, Oct. 4, 26 Nebbiensches Gartenhaus

3:00 p.m. Carme Lόpez Fernández / ES – Gaita gallega

A truly special performance: drawing on the Galician musical tradition, Carme Lopez presents her traditional instrument, the bagpipes, in a contemporary style.

Carme López Fernández (Galicia, 1992) has a degree in Primary Education with a specialization in Music (USC), a higher degree in Interpretation in Traditional and Popular Musical Instruments from Galicia (CSMV), a Master’s in Interpretation and Musical Research (VIU) and a doctorate from the UDC with a dissertation entitled “Compilation, analysis and didactic use of the vocal repertoire accompanied by hand percussion as part of the study of Galicia’s intangible heritage in a representative case”.
Currently, Carme López is a professor in the Department of Music Education at the Faculty of Cultural Studies in Education (USC). Her research focuses mainly on the music of oral tradition and its relationship to ethnomusicology, the gender perspective and education.
As a musician, she has been part of groups such as Os Minhotos, Raiceira or the Galician Folk Orchestra Sondeseu, with whom she has also released several recordings. She has participated in various competitions for traditional music (solo bagpipe, quartet bagpipe and singing), winning several prizes.
In her solo career, Carme López has recently released Quintela (WarmWinters Ltd., 2024), experimental music with bagpipes, and Vinde todas (Microscopi, 2024) under the name Carmela, about music from oral tradition.
Carme López is performer, teacher, and researcher in the field of traditional oral music from Galicia. Influenced by the approach of composers such as Éliane Radigue and Pauline Oliveros, the Spanish musician creates slowly evolving soundscapes and pushes the sonic possibilities of the bagpipes to their absolute limits.

Sun, Oct. 4, 26 KunstKulturKirche Allerheiligen

5:00 p.m. Chkheidze – Downes – Railton

Anushka Chkheidze/GE – electronics
Kit Downes/GB – organ
Lucy Railton/GB – cello, electronics

17:00 Uhr Chkheidze – Downes – Railton

Kit Downes, a recipient of the British Jazz Award, the BBC Jazz Award, and the German Jazz Prize, engages in a musical dialogue with the young musicians Lucy Railton and Anushka Chkheidze. Electroacoustic sounds meet the diversity of contemporary organ sounds.

Kit Downesis a BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated solo recordingartist for ECM Records. He has toured the world playing piano, church organ and harmonium with his own bands (‘ENEMY’, ‘Troyka’ and ‘Elt’) as well as with artists such as Squarepusher, Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille, Sofia Jernberg, Benny Greb, Mica Levi and Sam Amidon.
An organ scholar at St Peter Mancroft in Norwich whilst growing up, he is now living in Berlin, and performs solo pipe organ and solo piano concerts – as well as playing in collaborations with saxophonist Tom Challenger, cellist Lucy Railton, composer Shiva Feshareki, saxophonist Ben v an Gelder and with the band ‘ENEMY’ (with Petter Eldh and James Maddren). He is also currently working with violinist Aidan O’Rourke, drummer Seb Rochford,composer Max de Wardener and in the organ trio ‘Deadeye’ with Reinier Baas and Jonas Burgwinkel. He has written commissions for Cheltenham Music Festival, London Contemporary Orchestra, Biel Organ Festival, Ensemble Klang at ReWire Festival, the Scottish Ensemble, Cologne Philharmonie and the Wellcome Trust. He also performed as part of the National Theatre production of ‘Network’ from 2017-2018, featuring actor Bryan Cranston. He has performed solo organ concerts at the Elb Philharmonie in Hamburg, Lausanne Cathedral, Flagey in Brussels, the Royal Albert Hall in London as well as the Southbank Royal Festival Hall, Rochester Jazz Festival (US), St Olafs Minneapolis (US), Stavanger Konserthus, Aarhus Philharmonic Musikhuset, Darmstadt Organ Festival, Stuttgart Organ Festival, Laurenskerke in Rotterdam, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Berlin Jazz Festival, and the BBC Proms amongst many others.
He holds a Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he himself studied and now teaches. He has twice been awarded 1st place in Downbeat’s Critics Poll Rising Star for Organ and Keyboard categories respectively, and his ECM records ‘Obsidian‘, ‘Dreamlife of Debris‘ and ‘Vermillion‘ have been released to much critical acclaim.
www.kitdownes.com

Sun, Oct. 4, 26 Brotfabrik

07:00 p.m. Schlippenbach – Mahall – Sharp – Nilssen-Love

Alexander von Schlippenbach/D – piano
Rudi Maphall/D – clarinet
Elliot Sharp/US – guitar
Paal Nilssen-Love/NO – drums

Four masters of their craft — big names and top-notch talent — so nothing can really go wrong.

One of Europe’s premier free jazz bandleaders, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach’s music mixes free and contemporary classical elements, with his slashing solos often the link between the two in his compositions. Schlippenbach formed The Globe Unity Orchestra in 1966 to perform the piece“Globe Unity, which had been commissioned by the Berliner Jazztage. He remained involved with the orchestra into the ’80s.
Schlippenbach began taking lessons at eight, and studied at the Staatliche Hochschule for Musik in Cologne with composers Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Rudolf Petzold. He played with Gunther Hampel in 1963, and was in Manfred Schoof’s quintet from 1964 to 1967.
Schlippenbach began heading various bands after 1967, among them 1970 trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lovens and a duo with Sven-Ake Johansson which they co-formed in 1976. Schlippenbach has also given many solos performances. In the late ’80s, he formed the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, which has featured a number ofesteemed European avant-garde jazz musicians including Evan Parker, Paul Lovens, KennyWheeler, Misha Mengelberg and Aki Takase. During the 90`s Duo work with Tony Oxley, Sam Rivers and Aki Takase. 1999 started performance and radiorecording of Thelonius Monks complete works, (all the compositions) with Rudi Mahall and his group „Die Enttäuschung“.

Rudi Mahall began playing the clarinet at the age of fourteen. While studying classical clarinet, he explored contemporary music and improvisation and switched to the bass clarinet because of Eric Dolphy. In 1990, he became a professional musician.
The bands he has been or is still involved with include Der Rote Bereich (initially with Frank Möbus, Marty Cook, Jim Black, and Henning Sieverts) and Pro Susi; after moving to Berlin in 1993, he joined Die Enttäuschung (with Axel Dörner, Jan Roder, and others)[3], as well as Fossile3 (with Sebastian Gramss) and Fusk (with Kasper Tom Christiansen, Philipp Gropper, and Andreas Lang), among others. He has participated in several projects and recordings with Aki Takase (including works by Eric Dolphy and Fats Waller) and has contributed to Alexander von Schlippenbach’s complete recording of Thelonious Monk’s works and to the Globe Unity Orchestra. In addition, he has given concerts with Conny Bauer, Lee Konitz, Barry Guy, Karl Berger, Paul Lovens, Sven-Åke Johansson (Six Little Pieces for Quintet, 2000), Radu Malfatti, Ed Schuller, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, Hannes Bauer, and many others. Since 1999, he has collaborated on numerous projects with Saarland-based jazz trombonist Christof Thewes. In 2023, he formed the trio Mostly Monk with Geoff Goodman and Matthieu Bordenave.
Mahall has performed at the Jazz à Mulhouse festival, the Moers Festival, JazzFest Berlin, the Leverkusen Jazz Days, and jazz festivals in New York City, Amsterdam, Munich, Würzburg, and Nuremberg. Among other places, he has toured Portugal, Southern Africa, and East Africa.
Rudi Mahall received the SWR Jazz Prize in 2011.
(Wikipedia)

8:30 p.m. Warelis – Nebbia – Gropper – Bang – Aarset – Ismaily – Drake

Marta Warelis/PL – piano
Camila Nebbia/ARG – saxophone
Philipp Gropper/D – saxophone
Jan Bang/NO – live sampling, programming
Eivind Aarset/NO – guitar, electronocs
Shahzad Ismaily/US – bass
Hamid Drake/US – drums

To wrap up the festival, various musical styles will come together once again in a large ensemble — a final musical “potpourri.”

Pianist Marta Warelis is a vibrant performer with a strong preference for improvisation and experimentation in all genres. She continually aims for instant composing on the basis of new sounds and influences. Her work draws inspiration from music across the globe including angolan dance music, jazz, western classical music and the various schools of free improvisation. Born and raised in Poland, Marta moved to Groningen in 2010 to attend the Prince Claus Conservatory. In 2014 she found her place in Amsterdam, very quickly becoming an active member of the local improvisers‘ scene. Marta has appeared frequently in Bimhuis, where in 2017 she was given a Carte Blanche in recognition of her remarkable talents. In 2019 she became a member of Doek Collective creating opportunities for experimentation, research and performance. She shares the stage with a variety of creative musicians including Wilbert de Joode, Dave Douglas, Ab Baars, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Ken Vandermark, Andy Moor, Frank Rosaly as well with groups Omawi, Hupata!, Dust Bunny, Kaja Draksler’s matter 100, Ruidoscuro, John Dikeman’s OAonTI, Knarr, Televizyon, PolyBand, Bazooka and more.
(martawarelis.com)

Shahzad Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer and engineer. Born in Harrisburg, PA, to Pakistani immigrant parents, he was diagnosed with ectodermal dysplasia—a rare genetic disorder that has profoundly impacted Ismaily’s ability to listen, endure, compose and collaborate.
Since moving to New York City in 2000, Ismaily has been a seminal member of the music community. Exploring improvisation, tonal shifts, and rhythmic movement, the Grammy-nominated artist has collaborated with numerous national and international musicians. His work spans a wide array of instruments—from electric bass, guitar, drums, percussion to synthesizers and various sound-makers gathered throughout life’s travels.
He has also collaborated on films, sound installations, performance art and dance pieces, such as the Oscar-nominated and Sundance award-winning film, Frozen River, and Ragnar Kjartansson’s installation, The Visitors. Described by The New York Times as the “Musikfans favorite Musician”, he has recorded and performed with a diverse crew of artmakers and avante-garde musicians which includes: Arooj Aftab, Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Guillermo E. Brown, Nels Cline, Anthony Coleman, Bryce Dessner, Ceramic Dog, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithfull, Faun Fables, Feist, Ben Frost, Ganavya, Milford Graves, Keiji Haino, Graham Haynes, Shelley Hirsch, Jolie Holland, Lonnie Holley, JFDR, Vijay Iyer, Eyvind Kang, Laleh Khorramian, Merope, Butch Morris, Dustin O’Halloran, Yoko Ono “Plastic Ono Band”, Beth Orton, Lou Reed, Marc Ribot, Damien Rice, Secret Chiefs 3, Colin Stetson, Laura Veirs and Love In Exile.

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