Programme 4.11.
Before “Playing the Haus” beyond the main hall with a kaleidoscopic array of sounds in newly created concert spaces at the Festspielhaus, the programme on Friday night begins with three wildly divergent performances on the main stage.
The idiosyncratic composer, drummer and artist Sven-Åke Johansson mounts a rare performance of his witty work for fire extinguishers, followed by a trio set from the rising Estonian pianist Kirke Karja. The first half of the evening concludes with a another pioneer of German free jazz – a performance by reedist Peter Brötzmann featuring Hamid Drake and guembri master Majid Bekkas from Marocco.
During a 90-minute break, there will be time for food and drinks, and festival visitors will have the opportunity to get to know artists from the Friday programme more closely in moderated conversations. Meanwhile the main stage will be completely remodelled for the second part of the evening, inviting the audience together with the musicians on stage to enter into the multifarious environment of the Paris-Berlin Umlaut Collective. For some three hours, three projects will share and play this special space under the title “Umpire Jumble” with intimate acoustic sets, including Sven-Åke Johansson’s agile trio with Bertrand Denzler on saxophone and collaborator Joel Grip on double bass, the French-German-Italian quartet Die Hochstapler presenting its spontaneously programmed and arranged post-bop and finally, to celebrate and dance along, with a swinging set of the flagship’s Umlaut Big Band including some special contributions.
While this occurs the rest of the Festspielhaus spaces will also be active and audiences are invited to wander around. At the Kassenhalle, Maryana Golovchenko and Anna Antypova with special guest Kateryna Ziabliuk will present their audiovisual project „Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, based on the film of the same name by legendary filmmaker Sergei Parajanov. This Ukrainian contribution will be followed by sets by the Swedish piano trio led by the acclaimed pianist Lisa Ullén and the groove-heavy Austrian band Synesthetic4, while in the Oberes Foyer rising French percussionist Camille Émaille will perform solo and with her trio OTTO, and the Italian duo of violinist Silvia Tarozzi and cellist Deborah Walker will put their beguiling spin on folk and protest songs from Northern Italy.
Outside of the Festspielhaus, the striving alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins from the US brings his spiritual post-bop to A-Trane.