Munich. Celebrating its twelfth edition, the
successful and well-established format of the BMW Welt Jazz Award will
introduce a new concept. Following the theme “The Melody at Night“,
six outstanding international ensembles from Norway, Poland, Germany,
Luxemburg and Italy will perform six concerts offered free of charge
on Tuesday nights. And while the venue of the concerts will remain the
same at the Double Cone of BMW Welt, this year’s audiences can expect
to be greeted by a new set up.
Created in the blue hour of blues music, late-night dances and
jam sessions in the early morning hours, jazz has been a creature of
the night from its inception. This is why in the “Great American
Songbook” the terms “night” and “moon” will most likely be found more
often than even “love”. Therefore, the musicians chosen for the BMW
Welt Jazz Award 2020 will explore this year’s theme “The Melody at
Night” by taking a closer look at the night and its associated
melodies – and for the very first time, the concerts will be performed
on Tuesday nights instead of Sunday matinees.
Following the last event on March 10, an expert jury will select
two ensembles to perform at the final concert held at the auditorium
of the BMW Welt, where the winner will be announced. In addition to
prize money of 10,000 Euro, the winning ensemble will receive a trophy
designed specially by BMW Design. The runner-up will receive 5,000
Euro. In addition, the audience’s overall favourite ensemble will
receive the audience award, which includes a performance at the
festival “Jazz Sommer 2020” held at the Munich hotel Bayerischer Hof.
Dieter Reiter, Mayor of Munich, said, “I am sure that the BMW
Welt Jazz Award will once again bring an enthusiastic audience to the
Double Cone of the BMW Welt to experience outstanding newcomers of the
jazz scene in evening performances free of charge. In the name of the
City of Munich, I would like to thank the BMW Group for this
exceptional and lasting commitment.”
Ilka Horstmeier, member of the Board of Management responsible
for Human Resources at BMW AG has become patron of the BMW Welt Jazz
Award: “Every year the BMW Welt Jazz Award offers a fantastic
opportunity for talented artists to show their skills. Jazz stands for
many virtues that are also relevant in today´s working world:
creativity, improvisation, lifelong learning, tolerance and cultural
diversity. We are delighted to offer, for the very first time, six
inspiring evening performances following the theme “The Melody at
Night”. I would like to thank our partners for the brilliant cooperation.
The upcoming year will also see the fifth edition of the BMW
Welt Young Artist Jazz Award, which is offered in co-operation with
the City of Munich. Young jazz musicians and ensembles who come from
Munich or its surrounding area are eligible to apply. As previously
seen with award winners Josef Reßle, Roman Sladek, Martin Brugger and
Hannah Weiss, the jury members of the BMW Welt Jazz Award will decide
on the level of support granted to the applicants.
Programme of the BMW Welt
Jazz Award 2020
Concerts from 7 pm to about 9.30 pm at the double-coned
structure of the BMW Welt:
January 14, 2020 Cecilie Grundt Quintet
January 21,
2020 Andrea Hermenau Quintet
February 11,
2020 Adam Bałdych Quartet
February 18, 2020
Peter Gall Quintet
February 25, 2020
Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen
March 10, 2020 Giovanni Guidi Quintet
The concerts are offered free of charge; however, seating is
limited and cannot be guaranteed. Doors open at 6 pm.
Final concert at the auditorium of BMW Welt at 7pm:
May 9, 2020 Final concert featuring the two
shortlisted finalists
Tickets for the final concert will be available as of January 14,
2020, at BMW Welt and München Ticket.
This year’s events will be hosted by Hannah Weiss, winner of the BMW
Welt Young Artists Award 2019.
Jury
The distinguished jury of expert jurors, that proved success in
previous years, will be headed by Oliver Hochkeppel (Music and
cultural affairs journalist, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and will include the
following members:
Roland Spiegel, Editor and jazz expert at German broadcasting station
Bayerischer Rundfunk BR‑KLASSIK
Andreas Kolb, Editor-in-chief of JazzZeitung.de and neue
musikzeitungHeike Lies, Musicologist, Music and Music Theatre Division
of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital
MunichChristiane Böhnke-Geisse, Artistic Director of the international
jazz festival “Bingen swingt”.
Artists and ensembles
January 14, 2020: Cecilie Grundt Quintet
Saxophonist Cecilie Grundt is one of the latest discoveries of the
lively Norwegian jazz scene. Trained in Stavanger, Trondheim and
Valencia, this 28-year-old musician founded her first band Matrjosjka
in 2016, closely followed by her quintet in 2017, which she focusses
most on while also playing in various other ensembles and big bands.
Unlike many other young Scandinavian jazz musicians, Grundt did not
come to jazz via folk, rock or avantgarde music; her role models
include traditional iconic saxophonists from Dexter Gordon over
Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins to Jan Garbarek. This is why she
named her debut album “Contemporary Old School” – a humoristic nod to
the inspiration that informs all her pieces. Together with trumpeter
Øyvind Mathisen, pianist Håvard Aufles, bassist Morten Stai and
drummer Åsmund Smidt, she will develop new soundscapes and melodies
based on this tradition at BMW Welt Jazz Award.
January 21, 2020: Andrea Hermenau Quintet
For many years, pianist, singer, percussionist and composer Andrea
Hermenau has been an integral part of Munich’s jazz scene. She
performs as part of the Etna Quartet and the Fjoralba Turku Quartet,
in various ensembles of Harald Rüschenbaum, at Jerker Kluge’s Deep
Jazz, as part of a trio or, together with saxophonist Carolyn Breuer,
in their own band. Surprisingly, she has only recorded a single
project under her own name to date. Its name, however, matches this
year’s edition of the BMW Welt Jazz Award perfectly. In “Splendours of
the Night” Hermenau arranged and composed pieces that for her
represent the music of the night and emphasize its poetic qualities.
Playing as part of a quintet alongside saxophonist Till Martin,
bassist Sven Faller, drummer Bastian Jütte and the American
vibraphonist Tim Collins, Hermenau creates her accomplished harmonic
piano sound, her highly-developed sense of rhythm, her passion for
southern European sounds and her reduced lyrical song.
February 11, 2020: Adam Bałdych Quartet
From an early age, Polish violinist Adam Bałdych was a celebrated
prodigy in his home country and he launched his international career
at the tender age of 16. Following his studies at the Berklee College
of Music, he founded his first band Damage Control and began
performing at all the great festivals. In 2011, he was signed by Siggi
Loch’s ACT label and has since worked with pianists Yaron Herman, Iiro
Rantala and Helge Lien. Today, this multiple award-winning musician is
based in New York and critics talk of his unparalleled technique which
helped “redefine the sound of violins”. With his current project
Sacrum Profanum Baldych returns to his classical roots – together with
his Polish colleagues, pianist Krzysztof Dys, bassist Michal Baranski
and drummer Dawid Fortuna, he focusses on “sacral music” and its great
composers, from medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen and Renaissance
composer Thomas Tallis to the contemporary Russian avant-garde
musician Sofia Gubaidukina.
February 18, 2020: Peter Gall Quintet
Born in Bad Aibling and based in Berlin, Peter Gall is one of
Germany’s most prominent drummers and composers. He has been playing
alongside jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and numerous singers
including Thomas Quasthoff, Jane Monheit, Kim Sanders, Jasmin
Tabatabai, Peter Fessler and the New York Voices as well as his
brother, pianist Chris Gall, while also being a fixture at bands such
as Subtone and Robert Di Gioia’s Web Web. At the BMW Welt, Gall will
present his first album as a band leader. Paradox Dreambox is an
impressive kaleidoscope of modern jazz sounds presented in
collaboration with outstanding colleagues of the innovative German and
European jazz scenes. This includes Echo Jazz laureate, saxophonist
Wanja Slavin, Dutch guitar icon Reinier Baas, pianist Reiner Böhm,
winner of the award Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis, and the up-and-coming
bassist Felix Henkelhausen.
February 25, 2020: Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen
The small Duchy of Luxembourg is home to a new generation of
musicians that successfully work on developing a young, open European
jazz independent of the genre’s US-American original style. One of the
movement’s most famous international representatives is the trio of
pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen.
After each having worked on their own successful projects, the three
musicians, who have known each other since their school days, formed
their trio in 2011. The trio has, since published, three critically
acclaimed albums; The most recent being “Once In A Blue Moon”, which
will be presented at the BMW Welt. Bubbling over with ideas, the
trio’s album presents surprising, gripping music that excites its
audiences and is carried by the confident interpretation of its three musicians.
March 10, 2020: Giovanni Guidi Quintet
When attending his jazz lectures as a teenager, pianist Giovanni
Guidi was discovered by trumpeter Enrico Rava, Italy’s jazz icon, and
he has been Rava’s accompanist on the piano ever since. In addition to
the ensuing fame, Guidi continued to gain international recognition
for projects of his own. Together with bassist Joe Rehmer and
Portuguese drummer João Lobo Guidi performs as a trio – for his
current programme “Avec le temps”, however, he added two prominent
names of the Italian jazz scene to his ensemble, woodwind player
Francesco Bearzatti and guitarist Roberto Cecchetto. The quintet,
which Guidi jokingly calls “the inferno” on account of its potential,
favours impressionist, lyrical and bluesy sounds when paying hommage
to the poet, composer and chansonnier Léo Ferré or the recently
deceased Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko.
This edition of BMW Welt Jazz Award will once again enjoy the
generous support of nmz and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the
City of Munich. For the first time, the Munich hotel Bayerischer Hof
will be partner of the BMW Welt Jazz Award where the winners of the
audience award will perform at the festival “Jazz Sommer 2020” hosted
by the hotel. Additionally, the radio station egoFM will also be a new
partner who will be broadcasting all the concerts.
For further questions please contact:
Doris Fleischer
BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental
Affairs
Cultural Engagement
Telephone:
+49-89-382-27806
Email: Doris.Fleischer@bmw.de
Prof. Dr Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and
Intergovernmental Affairs
Head of Cultural
Engagement
Telephone: +49 (0)89 382 247 53
Email: Thomas.Girst@bmwgroup.com
Christophe Koenig
Spokesperson BMW Brand und
Marketing
Phone: +49-89-382-56097
E-Mail: christophe.koenig@bmw.de
www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email: presse@bmw.de
About BMW Group Cultural Engagement
For almost 50 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged
in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the
main focus of its long-term commitment on contemporary and mod- ern
art, classical music and jazz as well as architecture and design. In
1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard
Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s Munich
headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons,
Daniel Barenboim, Jonas Kaufmann and architect Zaha Hadid have
co-operated with BMW. In 2016 and 2017, female artist Cao Fei from
China and American John Baldessari created the next two vehicles for
the BMW Art Car Collection. Besides co-initiatives, such as BMW Tate
Live, the BMW Art Journey and the “Opera for All” concerts in Berlin,
Munich, Moscow and London, the company also partners with leading
museums and art fairs as well as orchestras and opera houses around
the world. As part of its art programme “Muse”, Rolls-Royce partners
for the initiative “The Dream Commission” with two internationally
esteemed art institutions. Together with Fondation Beyeler and
Serpentine Galleries, emerging and established artists are invited to
submit a moving-image work that delivers an immersive sensory
experience. The artists are nominated and chosen by renowned
personalities of the art world like Daniel, Birnbaum, Hans Ulrich
Obrist, Cao Fei, and Theodora Vischer. BMW Group takes absolute
creative freedom in all its cultural activities for granted – as this
initiative is as essential for producing groundbreaking artistic work
as it is for major innovations in a successful business.
Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture
and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMW-Group-Culture
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/bmwgroupculture/
@BMWGroupCulture
#BMWGroupCulture
BMW Welt – at the heart of the brand, on the pulse of the city
The BMW Welt welcomes over 3 million visitors per year. With its
pioneering architecture, BMW Welt is the heart of all the brands in
the BMW Group – BMW, the sub-brands BMW M and BMW i, MINI, Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars and BMW Motorrad, which are impressively presented in their
own worlds of experience. But it is not only the exhibitions and the
collection of new vehicles that are highlights for car lovers from all
over the world. Visitors can enjoy a year-round programme of varied
events covering culture, art and entertainment as well as a popular
event location for over 400 external events per year. The various
restaurants of the BMW Welt offer a variety of culinary delights up to
star gastronomy. In the BMW Welt Junior Campus, children and
youngsters can enjoy exciting guided tours and workshops on the themes
of mobility and sustainability.
Further Information: www.bmw-welt.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bmw.welt
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Twitter:
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#bmwwelt #bmwweltjazzaward
The BMW Group
With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad,
the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of
automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and
mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises 31
production and assembly facilities in 15 countries; the company has a
global sales network in more than 140 countries.
In 2018, the BMW Group sold over 2,490,000 passenger vehicles and
more than 165,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the
financial year 2018 was € 9.815 billion on revenues amounting to
€ 97.480 billion. As of 31 December 2018, the BMW Group had a
workforce of 134,682 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term
thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established
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conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.
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