Armenian-born David Yengibarian studied in Hungary from 1995, where he became one of the most sought-after jazz and world music performers and composers. He has released seven albums, and has also composed several theatre and film scores. The main sources of his folk-inspired music are the Armenian musical tradition, European and American jazz and improvisational music, as well as Argentine tango and the music of its greatest innovator Astor Piazzolla. Above all, his trio is characterised by an emotional performance style heavily drawing on improvisation. In recent years, the band has performed with many prominent national and international guests, such as Miklós Lukács, Tony Lakatos, and Gevorg Dabaghyan. Their own compositions form the backbone of their repertoire at this concert, but Balkan and Latin songs may also appear in the programme.  

Mindaugas Stumbras is a Lithuanian guitarist and composer based in Vilnius, Lithuania. His music is very dynamic, colourful and versatile. Beautiful and picturesque compositions are influenced by the broad European jazz scene, American jazz tradition, Lithuanian folk music and Scandinavian improvisational music scene. Exciting and emotional melodies represent a mature and soft northern sound which sometimes can be interrupted by massive bursts of power and dissonance. Melancholic and nostalgic melodies merged with the meditative flow of harmonies create a warm atmosphere that shapes the way this music sounds.  

With a ship’s-horn power voice and irresistible stage presence, Nani defends the endangered Ladino language. Her fascinating migration mix seeps into her songwriting, fusing the sounds of the marketplace with Flamenco drama. Nani learned Ladino from her Moroccan grandmother in hiding, as her father forbade them to speak Ladino at home. Nani is the world’s 1st millennial Ladino songwriter. Her new album Ke Haber (What’s New) captures the spirit of the ancient, matriarchal language, and propels it into the future with socially pertinent lyrics celebrating migration, gender and female empowerment. The soundscape captures the sounds and smells of the marketplace, and fuses them with raw, flamenco-like vocals, soft choral trombone, mariachi guitar, percussion and piano. Nani’s music was documented for the Library of Congress USA in 2023, an honour reserved to few artists, naming her new Ladino repertoire as a “living relic”. She ranked #11 World Music Charts and #13 Music Charts Europe, and held talks at WOMEX, JAZZIAM, InJazz, and Fira B! to name a few.  

“This is our musical offering for a utopian, inclusive society, using a new, free, imaginary language unlimited by origin or cultural boundaries: Anthem for No Man’s Land. Our album title is inspired by our efforts to make art that can see beyond territorial thinking, beyond borders and beyond egoism. We want to express this to our audience, not through a complicated manifesto, but rather through the emotions and the immediacy of our music. We are not just striving to affirm freedom, we want to live it in our music, together with you, dear listener.” Anyone who has ever been to a concert by this band will have experienced this for themselves. The gatherings of this trans-European quartet are more like a ritual liberation ceremony than a conventional concert. With their previous album A Novel Of Anomaly, the band toured throughout Europe and North America. In over a hundred concerts, they have developed an intense band sound that is unrivalled. Somewhere in no man's land between archaic alpine influences, Italianità, psychedelic rock and multi-ethnic polyrhythms, coupled with explosive interplay and passionate improvisation. Their music is a wild mixture of unexpected twists and turns, crazy sounds and moments full of surprises. Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometimes totally crazy – always different from what you think. Their new album Anthem For No Man's Land will be released by ACT Music in spring 2025.  

Triology is a newly founded collaboration between three outstanding artists: Ratko Zjaca, an internationally awarded guitarist and composer behind a large international discography, Roland Abreu, the Cuban-born bassist who found his second home in Europe, and Jože Zadravec, Zjaca’s long-standing accomplice at the drums. Together, they perform original compositions in a trio format. The peerless combination of guitar, acoustic bass and drums leads to stunning results in terms of sound and arrangement, sparkled with rhythmic ideas, texture and space. The three artists’ enthusiasm, passion, intensity and warmth can be experienced in every moment of their live performance, presenting an inspiring and enjoyable powerhouse of original compositions.

Springing off a sound reminiscent of acoustic piano trios of the 50s and 60s, Oùat explores the memory and perspectives of hand crafted, collective music making. Jazz in its most open operative meaning, in which improvisation is a real necessity, stimulates the trio to confront and investigate our times of sounds and movements. Oùat's music is transmitted through consistent listening and risk taking. An inviting work that gesticulates the most obvious as well as surprising in coming together. Being one of many groups made possible due to the venue Au Topsi Pohl (2019-2022) in Berlin, Oùat started off with performing the music of Ellington, Hasaan Ibn Ali, Elmo Hope, Per Henrik Wallin and Sun Ra. Their debut album Elastic Bricks (Umlaut, 2022) is exclusively dedicated to their own material and might evoke a dreamed-up vacation of Hindemith in Alger; sounds and tempos in a curious mixture of recognizable disorder and unrecognizable order. For their second release, The Strange Adventures of Jesper Klint (Umlaut, 2023) Oùat reiterates the trio music of Swedish pianist Per Henrik Wallin which is an escalating and beautiful venture of limits and questioning. Oùat continues to praise the sound and momentum of collective concentrated creativity, making as much as possible out of an idea, a shared place and time. This is most certainly heard in the digital release Trial of Future Animals (2023); an advent calendar overwhelming Christmas itself in twenty-four long and very different song releases. The trio likes to invite guests and expand on uncommon forms. Oùat (Once upon a time) can be heard as storytelling, a chatty trilogy instantaneously finding the sonorous meanings of what, where and when. How this is possible is another question. Simply: listen – it's a good beginning, and end! Oùat's members play momentous roles in the creative music scenes of Europe, from Marseille to Dala-Floda via Berlin. Their individual work is heard in groups such as Monks Casino, [ahmed], and The Art Ensemble of Chicago.    

“Would it be possible to speak of a new all-star trio of Austrian jazz? The maturity and compactness of the compositions that are celebrated with such relish by Haezz convey the image of seasoned, veteran musicians, devoid of any demonstrative attitude and who know what they are doing. The warm and intimate chorals stand alongside artfully interwoven, contrapuntal webs of lyrical urgency. Then back to a groove-heavy breakneck pace, in which all three instruments bounce between rhythmic, harmonic and melodic roles. Polyphone ideas of cool jazz meet complex rhythmic finesse and Central European melodic allusions. The stupendous virtuosity gleams through again and again and serves as a means for this purely acoustic, hand-made chamber jazz laden with overtones. Tobias Vedovelli, Štěpán Flagar and Martin Eberle play music that pairs sensuosity with an aspiration for creativity, the type of music that goes straight to the heart and excites the mind. A wondrous pleasure to listen to.” – Andreas Felber, Head of Jazz, Radio Ö1, ORF / Austrian Broadcasting Corporation  

The band represents a unique musical direction, radically different from the world of traditional mainstream jazz. Their musical palette embraces a wider spectrum, fusing elements of jazz, rock, indie and electronic music. Niki as a songwriter uses the band to realise her own musical vision encompassing personal experiences, emotions and deeper contents. The sound of the Niki Vörös New Project is fresh, dynamic and experimental, while the lyrics of her songs project truly personal feelings. Her powerful delivery expressing raw emotions and the energetic, characteristic style of the outstanding Hungarian players have become the trademark of this band. They aim to offer a unique and innovative musical experience, moulding elements of modern jazz with traditional rock and indie flavours while giving a strong emphasis to the lyrical and thought-provoking lyrics penned by Niki herself.

The Modern Art Orchestra's À la MAO... series aims to present compositions and adaptations, sometimes originals, by members of the orchestra in a new context. In recordings and concerts, the orchestra has created a repertoire that is unparalleled in the history of Hungarian jazz. Some of these pieces have never been heard before by old or new followers, arranged in a new thematical, stylistic or other way. Additionally, some of them have never been released on disc or digitally. On International Jazz Day, an initiative associated with the name of Herbie Hancock, one of the founding fathers of jazz-rock, it almost goes without saying that the Modern Art Orchestra will be drawing on the extensive repertoire of the jazz-rock genre. Works by the versatile trumpeter-composer Gábor Subicz, pianist Gábor Cseke, saxophone soloist Kristóf Bacsó and bandleader Kornél Fekete-Kovács form the backbone of the programme. For the rest of the evening, our dear fellow musician, organist Brian Charette, who comes from the New York music scene, will join our band.

Bálint Gyémánt, one of Hungary's most distinguished jazz guitarists, has always been enriching diverse and exciting bands with his playing, which, in addition to carrying the characteristics of jazz and contemporary improvisation, is also able to appeal to pop music lovers. Pianist Krisztián Oláh builds his distinctive, dynamic music by organically combining classical musical elements and compositional techniques with the improvisational drift and abstract rhythms of contemporary jazz. Their joint project approaches the guitar and piano duo, with its limitless possibilities, from the artistic side of jazz. The backbone of their programme is formed by their own compositions and arrangements composed especially for this project, but even more importantly by the constant musical interaction and dialogue that is one of the duo's main characteristics.

This trio, founded by Attila Gyárfás, draws from the tools of free improvisation, contemporary classical music and traditional jazz, and its members are active representatives of the Hungarian improvisational music scene. A key element of the band's sound is the modern analogue synthesizer played by Máté Pozsár, which, in addition to creating a nearly infinite amount of timbres, is capable of switching between radically different sounds in the blink of an eye. Contrasting with the vibrations shaped by circuits and generated by the speakers is the acoustic sound of the drum kit and Ernő Hock's upright bass, but the musicians' attention and imagination allow the three instruments to boil into unity. Most of the trio's repertoire is made up of compositions by Attila Gyárfás, based on the improvisational skills of the three musicians, but using the sampler controlled by Máté Pozsár, they also evoke recordings from jazz history to which the members of the band are closely connected.

Guitarist and composer Paul Jarret continues to plough his highly personal, original and uncompromising artistic furrow with the creation of Tilia, a new quartet with a European dimension.  In addition to Paul Jarret, the new quartet features German saxophonist Philipp Gropper (a key figure in Berlin jazz over the past fifteen years), Amsterdam-based Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong, Europe's “rising star” on drums, and Étienne Renard, a young French double bassist whose musical qualities are gaining increasing recognition, and who has been a regular contributor to Paul Jarret's projects for several years. The repertoire, based on the guitarist's compositions, blends lyricism, abstraction and cinematic atmospheres, leaving plenty of room for spontaneity and interaction between the musicians. The influences and energy of alternative rock, dear to the guitarist's heart, are evident in the songwriting, the energy released by the band's collective, and the care taken with the band's sound and the quality of the recording and mixing. Influences such as Deerhoof, Sonic Youth, Battles and Bon Iver can be found among the collective improvisations of free jazz and the libertarian movements of “great black American music”. To compose the entire repertoire for this project, Paul Jarret drew his allegorical inspiration from the lime tree (botanical name: Tilia), a majestic, sacred and universal tree, a symbol of justice and freedom, prized for its many virtues and capable of living up to a thousand years. All the titles in the repertoire are derived from this tree: Baucis (from the ancient Greek legend Philemon and Baucis), Bark, Linden, Laima (the Baltic divinity represented by the lime tree)...  

What Miquèu’s and Ádám's music have in common is the continuous change of being on a journey. Miquèu set out from Provence to create music that is at home everywhere and in which we can find ourselves at home anywhere. For Ádám, Budapest is the beginning of the journey, his compositions embracing a wide range of cultures from New York to Odessa. Their music is about encounters, friendship and everything they have experienced in their lives. Their concerts take us on a whirlwind journey through genres, countries, cultures, cities, houses, corridors, up and down stairs. Between Correns and Budapest. Adam's accordion, Miquèu's flutes. And their stories, which became music. Always unique, unrepeatable, improvisational, free stories. During the evening, we will hear pieces from Miquèu Montanaro's Tangos and Ádám Móser's programme called Stairs / Escaliers.  

Charlotte Greve is a New York-based alto saxophonist and composer originally from Germany. With a unique concept of tone and composition, she has been making a mark on both the Brooklyn and German jazz scenes. Charlotte has released seven albums as a leader of her bands Lisbeth Quartett and Wood River, two of which received an ECHO Jazz prize. Moreover, Greve has just been awarded the German Jazz Prize as “Artist of the Year”. Her latest release is marked by sensitive interplay – a collection of stunningly subtle and melodically pronounced songs that are both gentle and powerfully fluid. Even if the musicians are across the world in Berlin or New York City, all traveling and working on their respective projects, they seem to meld and blend with ease because of their history together and their knowledge of each other’s instrumental styles.  

This album has been overshadowed by an even more legendary recording, but it has a lot of beauty. Saxophonist Paul Desmond is the only member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, apart from the bandleader, to become a big name outside that quartet. Desmond recorded the album Time Out with the Dave Brubeck Quartet in August 1959 - one of the most successful jazz albums ever made. In September, guitarist Jim Hall, as well as Percy Heath and Connie Kay of the Modern Jazz Quartet joined Desmond for his second solo outing, producing another example of the golden age of laid-back, cool, elegant, swinging jazz. The quartet consistently and unwaveringly performs the hits of the era, which include MJQ numbers and standards, but the CD reissue also includes a Desmond composition. The alto saxophone is lilting and flattering, seductive and reassuring. That's why it was voted number one again in Playboy magazine that year, as the album title suggests. As many of the series’ regulars will have guessed, Árpád Dennert will evoke the sound of one of the saxophone’s unforgettable masters with the MAO's rhythm section.

In the eclectic programme of Zita Gereben and her orchestra, the songs have the characteristics of R’n’B, pop, blues and, of course, jazz. The Hungarian singer-songwriter founded her band in 2009; so far, they have recorded three albums of their own compositions, and are planning to release their fourth album this autumn. Zita Gereben has worked with numerous Hungarian bands, and her forays into the world of motion pictures proved equally successful. Her orchestra unites talented and renowned Hungarian musicians, who bravely address the most different musical styles and the freedom of improvisation, resulting in a truly original sound.

Synesthetic4 was founded by Vincent Pongracz and Peter Rom in 2017. Since then the quartet made its mark on the European scene with shows at Jazzfest Saalfelden, Ljubljana Jazzfestival, Jazzwerkstatt Bern, April Jazz, and Orbit Jazz Johannesburg among others. Their first album Pickedem was presented at Wiener Konzerthaus in 2019. The program which atmospherically combines elements of contemporary music, jazz, funk and electronic music moves “confidently from frenzy to humorous wit”, as Tom Gsteiger put it. The band providing for “colourful cineastics” and “creative virtuosity” (Austrian Sounds) also features Manu Mayr on bass and Andreas Lettner on drums. For Pickedem they received the German Record Critics Award. In June 2022 they released their second studio album Ahwowha. An important part of their music are complex but catchy rhythms that originate from hip hop, contemporary groove and electronic music and give the quartet’s sound an urban characteristic. „Dada-Rap“ and abstractly folkloristic melodies that are sometimes inspired by the music of Olivier Messiaen are meant to leave a humoristic or even bizarre impression on the listener. The improvisations move between jazz and contemporary classical music. The specialty of the band is the way aesthetic components are put together, the balance of profane and sophisticated musical elements and their aspirations to combine avantgarde artistic values with quality entertainment. An important addition to their musical body of work are their music video productions, in which the band members often play different characters and perform rhythmic choreographies that are precisely arranged to fit the music. In 2024 the band received the first Austrian Jazz Prize in the category Best Live Act.  

Three outstanding representatives of Hungarian music, Ági Szalóki, János Ávéd and István Tóth performs contemporary arrangements of sacred songs and folk hymns, including works by Lantos Sebestyén Tinódi, Bálint Balassi and anonymous composers from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as medieval hymns. The instrumentation and the unique approach of the artists already add an interesting dimension to the pieces, while jazz improvisations combine the best of tradition, freedom and the spirit of contemporary creation. 

“A Turkish female vocalist/cellist from coastal Trabzon, a guitarist/violist from Bacău in the Romanian inland and, as a wild card, a Flemish clarinetist/saxophonist from Antwerp, three true characters with a longer conjoint musical practice, met in the urban delta of The Lowlands to work on a variety of songs originating from the Black Sea. Clearing up the air to give breath to ten of these old songs they feel close to, these three musicians let emerge a selection of Turkish, Georgian, Lazi, Pontus Greek and Tatarian origin to receive illumination and shine. Far from delivering newly polished up versions, they draw us into the process of their momentary discovery of these long-lived songs. They catch them on the edge of emergence, in their transient volatility, at their merging and fading sides as well as in their full brightness and at their most playfully prancing and bouncing character”, wrote Henning Bolte about the Black Sea Songs trio. The band also records an album in the days of the concert, to be released on BMC Records.

Falka (Pack) is a long-established musical community that actually decided to become a band two years ago. Depths and heights, sadness and joy, singing and dancing, limits and freedom, community-building energies: this is Falka, an open band in which the members may occasionally change, but this makes their music more exciting and varied. Their programme is made up of compositions by members or other composers that are easy to take in, and even pieces that are inspired by the moment, born on the spot, and include free elements, written parts and easy-to-learn melodies. The goal: to break down the wall between the band and the audience, so that during the performances everyone is united in a community singing and moving around the fire, participating in the ritual.

Helicopets are a jazz group led by Warsaw-based composer and guitarist Adam Baran. The group focuses on exploring collective improvisation, drawing from modernity. Their music, set in the convention of a jazz quartet, refers to minimalism, ambient and electronic music, boldly crossing and redefining the genre framework of jazz. Baran’s playing style is focused on space and trance. Using effects and other devices, he creates patches of sound, treating his guitar as a sampler, but often returning to the classic, almost mainstream way of playing. The band’s sound is decisively shaped by Panilas, who uses her instrument to build electronic noises and avant-garde improvisations. The rhythm section will be made up of innovative Polish musicians: drummer Józef Biegański and bassist Piotr Zygma. In 2024, the band debuted at the Jazz Juniors festival in Kraków, receiving a number of special awards, also that of Budapest Music Center. As a result, they set off on a European tour. Their album will also be released this year. This project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund.  

De Beren Gieren is a post-contemporary jazz trio in which minimalism and bursting energy go hand in hand. It may be no coincidence that this band is based in Belgium, the home ground of surrealism and techno. De Beren Gieren consists of musicians highly active in the European music scene, but it is within this band their versatility flow freely. Its music is multi-layered, improvised and visionary. Corresponding acts could be Visible Cloaks, Radiohead, Erik Satie and Jon Hassell. Well, expect at least Beren music. Pianist Fulco Ottervanger composes most of the tunes, shining a childlike clarity, yet without ever pointing to a specific genre. It challenges the band to conceive a never-heard combination of sounds and parts supporting those sing-along melodies, often resulting in cinematic structures with a kaleidoscopic quality. Bass player Lieven Van Pée and drummer Simon Segers, join Fulco in a shared effort of control and letting go, tying the three together in a unique band. Live concerts of De Beren Gieren are an ongoing adventure full of beauty, dynamics and group interaction. What Eludes Us is an ode to what escapes us. And what we consciously want to look away from. For their 7th full album, De Beren Gieren even ignored the unimaginable beauty of the Norwegian fjords by sneaking into a dusty recording studio in the harbor of Bergen. Together with the celebrated and mysterious producer Jørgen Træen, who silently watched over the imperfections and interference as the driving force behind the skilled and lively playing of this electro-acoustic jazz trio. The result turns out to be compelling music with deceptive rhythms, clear melodies and uninhibited electronics in a way that also surprises themselves. How did that happen again?

Mihály Borbély, who is equally at home in the fields of folk and world music, jazz and contemporary music, and who is extremely popular both in Hungary and abroad, is one of the leading figures of Hungarian jazz as a performer and composer. The folk music heritage of the Carpathian Basin and the Balkans is strongly present in his works, organically combined with elements from the various jazz tendencies or even from the music of the twentieth century classics. His playing combines exciting melodic turns with subtly translucent and powerful rhythms, while lyrical phrases enter into dialogue with energetic gestures. This evening, the Borbély Quartet performs well-known pieces from their repertoire, as well as giving an insight into the workshop secrets of their latest improvisational experiments.  

The Modern Art Orchestra's À la MAO... series aims to present compositions and adaptations, sometimes originals, by members of the orchestra in a new context. In recordings and concerts, the orchestra has created a repertoire that is unparalleled in the history of Hungarian jazz. Some of these pieces have never been heard before by old or new followers, arranged in a new thematical, stylistic or other way. Additionally, some of them have never been released on disc or digitally. The Modern Art Orchestra's last concert of the season might as well bring up Herbie Hancock's name again, because this is the title of the Hancock's sextet album released almost 30 years ago.  They have been instrumentally reworking current pop hits. Of course, ever since jazz emerged, it has been using the hits of the day as a starting point to improvise, and the Great American Songbook was almost exclusively made up of musical, pop and film hits from the 1930s. In the last few decades, the freshness of new styles of pop has inspired some of the most famous foreign artists. The Hungarian jazz repertoire has also included songs by the most successful pop ensembles, while composers such as Gábor Subicz, Kristóf Bacsó and the orchestra leader Kornél Fekete-Kovács have also adapted film or stage music, creating a whole series of new jazz standards.

Drummer-composer Balázs Bágyi is one of the leading artists of Hungarian jazz. The music of his latest band is dominated by acoustic, contemporary jazz based on post bop elements. His partners are a prominent representative of the middle generation of Hungarian jazz: the saxophonist Soso Lakatos Sándor, the Junior Prima Prize-winning pianist Dezső Oláh, and one of the greatest bassists in Central Europe, Péter Oláh. The band has played at a number of European jazz festivals in recent years, as well as performing regularly in China - their collaboration with trumpet player Li Xiaochuan in Shanghai has been going on for several years. In 2016, their album Homage To Shakespeare with singer Kriszta Pocsai, was awarded the Gramophone Prize by the international professional jury. The repertoire of the formation is based on the compositions of the bandleader, Balázs Bágyi, who became the composer of the year in 2016. As in the previous years, they play some of the older compositions, as well as presenting their recent music in Opus Jazz Club.  

The artistic world of Kálmán Oláh Jr. is a harmonious blend of heritage, musical innovation and boundless passion. The saxophonist's goal is to showcase his compositions for this band in prestigious venues in Hungary and abroad, thus positioning the new generation of Hungarian jazz in the international music scene. The saxophonist showed a great interest in classical music and jazz from an early age. Together with his father, Kálmán Oláh senior, and his brother, Krisztián Oláh, both renowned pianists, he is a member of several bands that are regular and prestigious performers in concert halls. He has been awarded one of Hungary’s most important awards for young artists, the Junior Prima Prize, a testament to his exceptional talent and dedication.

The name of Miklós Lukács is synonymous with the highest level of the art of cimbalom playing, both in Hungary and internationally. He is regarded as one of the world's best-known and most versatile cimbalom players and is revered as a pioneer of his instrument. His performances weave together contemporary music, jazz and folk music to create a unique sound. His work has brought his instrument into a new light, revealing dimensions of the cimbalom's sound and possibilities that were first explored through his diverse playing. After Timeless, his solo album released on BMC Records last year, he further elaborated on a solo programme that offers a great opportunity to delve deeper into the musical world of Miklós Lukács and to experience its richness across genres. In his concerts, written compositions and improvisations born in the moment harmoniously complement each other, while the cimbalom unfolds its unparalleled range of sound.  

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