Only Jazz

A total of six free Sunday matinees, January to March 2016, will see the presentation of international jazz ensembles following the theme “Inspired by Legends.” The programme includes live performances by musicians from the US, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. In addition, this season will see the inauguration of the BMW Welt Young Artist Jazz Award, a project presented in collaboration with the city of Munich. Following the Sunday matinees, a panel of expert jurors will nominate two finalists to compete for the award on May 7, 2016, at the auditorium of BMW Welt.

On January 24, bassist Dieter Ilg will star as the opening act of this year’s series of matinees. In “My Beethoven”, Ilg, as part of a trio including pianist Rainer Böhm and drummer Patrice Hèral, transformed Ludwig van Beethoven’s music into timeless jazz. Originally from the German city of Freiburg, this musician made his name alongside famous artists such as Randy Brecker, Albert Mangelsdorf and Charlie Mariano and as Till Brönner’s regular bassist.

In 2010, he made his own wish come true by transforming Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello” into jazz. Ever since, Ilg’s trio has upheld this new outlook on classical music, leading to one of its recent projects, an album featuring Wagner’s “Parsifal”. For the recordings of “Otello” and “Parsifal” Dieter Ilg received the ECHO Jazz as “Bassist of the Year” in both 2012 and 2014.

During the second matinee on January 31, a performance of the Oded Tzur Quartet will be presented. The famous tales of “The Arabian Nights” is the theme of the debut album “Like A Great River” by Israeli saxophonist Oded Tzur. With melodies changing from meditative flow to rapid dynamism, he creates a musical link between the Orient, Occident and his chosen home of North America. In Munich, Tzur will present his unique sound accompanied by Shai Maestro, a pianist rumoured to be the next shooting star, and another fellow musician linked to numerous big stars of the New York scene, drummer Ziv Ravitz.