Jazzfest ImproCamp

In co-operation with the Jazzpilot*innen of the Deutsche Jazzunion and supervised by an experienced team of educators and artists made up of Jakob Fraisse, Jan Darius Monazahian and Ulrike Schwarz together with workshop leaders including the director and musician Nelly Thea Köster, the painter, dancer and choreographer Camilo Milton and the musician and singer Tobias Christl, the participating children will be able to immerse themselves in the rich world of improvisation – ranging from experiments with sounds and their own voices through dance to acting and painting.  

In addition to the workshops, this year’s Jazzfest Berlin will also include “daily specials” that allow the children to look behind the scenes of the festival. These will include attending soundchecks by the pianists Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach and the violist and composer Nancy Mounir followed by conversations with the artists. The children will also meet musicians of their own age from the girls’ choir of the Berlin Sing-Akademie and the choirboys of the Staats- und Domchor Berlin, who are also going to be spending Monday to Thursday of the week of the festival rehearsing all day at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and the University of the Arts for the opening concert “Apparitions”.

Nadin Deventer, the Artistic Director of Jazzfest Berlin, talks to the director and musician Nelly Thea Köster and Jakob Fraisse, the Head of the German Jazz Union’s Department of Education & Research, about how the Jazzfest ImproCamp was conceived, about its challenges and the question of what those taking part can learn from the children.