Programme Publication 42. Jazzfestival Saalfelden

You can expect a festival with about 60 concerts in the city, in the woods and meadows, music hikes in the midst of our beautiful mountains and of course some surprises. 

 

With the Mainstage and the Short Cuts - the main stages of our festival - we return this year with those stages that are especially dedicated to international formations. Last year, the Otto-Gruberhalle, a vacant industrial hall from the 1950s, was used for the first time as a stage. The Otto-Gruberhalle is also an integral part of this year's edition and will be integrated into the Mainstage concert ticket for the first time. The bookbindery Fuchs and the stage in the forest Kollingwald will once again become a place for spontaneous musical encounters. Furthermore, the roofed city park as well as the evening concerts in the Kunsthaus Nexus will become the meeting point with free admission. For the first time, the restaurant Brücklwirtshaus in Saalfelden, a historic building that was first mentioned in a document around 1400, will be a venue as well. Two impro sessions will take place here on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

Mario Steidl, the artistic director of the festival, has nominated two Artists in Residence, Austrian musician Katharina Ernst and Norwegian artist Gard Nilssen, who will each present four projects:

 

Gard Nilssen:
Drummer, composer, sound adventurer - the 39-year-old Norwegian is one of the most exciting and consistent musicians on today’s European scene. Born into a family in Skien where “everyone played drums”, Gard Nilssen tours at least 200 days a year with his own bands and as a drummer in Maciej Obara 4tet, the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, or with Thomas Dybdahl. The "vintage drum freak" can be heard on over seventy recordings – and as the "artist in residence" at the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2022 with his groups Supersonic Orchestra, with Acoustic Unity, Bushman's Revenge and as a guest of Cuong Vu at the "Mountain Tracks" concert in the forest Kollingwald.

 

Katharina Ernst: 
Irritation and composition, the overarching and attacking art of combination, seem to be paramount for the percussionist and painter. Born in Vienna, studied in France and living in Berlin, Katharina Ernst particularly appreciates the performative and chaotic, the polyrhythmic and polymetric aspects of her often electronically supplemented drums, her instrument of choice since the age of nine. Music, art and choreography complement each other in her work, from the theater stage via the gallery or the concert hall to the club. Always moving, always in motion, as can be witnessed in her various projects as part of her "artistic residency" at the Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2022.

 

This year's Jazz Festival edition is all about large formations: with four projects on the Mainstage (L.U.M.E. - Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble, Christoph Cech Jazz Orchestra Project, Trondheim Jazzorchestra & Jason Moran, Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra) and several commissioned projects, so-called "Cartes Blanches", among others for Mette Rasmussen (NOR) and Fabian Rucker (AUT) on the Mainstage as well as for Cansu Tanrikulu (TUR) and Max Andrzejewski (GER) at the Shortcuts. 

 

Further guests will be The Vijay Iyer Trio, Jason Moran, Vincent Courtois, Emilé Parisien Sextet "Louise" feat. Theo Croker, Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few, Alba Careta Group, Paal Nilssen - Love and many more.