The 12th edition of the Jazztrzębie Festival will take place on April 24–26, April 30, and May 8.
This event focuses on premiere original projects and strengthening Polish-Czech cultural cooperation. The program includes concerts by leading figures of the jazz scene, such as Maciej Obara, Anna Maria Jopek, Piotr Wojtasik, and Anna Gadt. The event will be complemented by a concert photography exhibition and a panel discussion with music industry representatives. The festival will culminate in a May concert by British saxophone icon Andy Sheppard and Przemysław Strączek’s trio, promoting their collaborative album “Endless Mystery.” For the twelfth time, Jastrzębie-Zdrój will become a meeting place for jazz enthusiasts and leading improvisers on the European scene.
The idea behind the festival, initiated by artistic director Przemysław Strączek, is to promote original work and avoid clichéd, commercial clichés. “For me, the most important thing when creating the program is for the music on our stage to be original,” emphasizes Przemysław Strączek. “I believe that the purest emotions arise from direct communication between the artist and the audience, when authentic, original material is presented. As organizers, we strive to create conditions in which this music will resonate at the highest level.” The festival will begin on April 24th at Łaźnia Moszczenica in Jastrzębie with the opening of Kasia Stańczyk’s concert photography exhibition, titled “Come on Come over.” The artist, who is also the creator of the festival’s visual identity, has been documenting the jazz scene for years and designs album covers and Jazz Forum magazines. “The visual concept is one of the key aspects of the event’s image. Working with Kasia Stańczyk, who has a great understanding of the Jazztrząb idiom, allows us to send a clear message to the world that it’s worth visiting us and experiencing live music,” explains the artistic director.
That same evening, at 7:30 PM, the Piotr Wojtasik Quintet & Anna Maria Jopek will perform in the Shaft Hall of Łaźnia Moszczenica. The musicians have collaborated on various projects, including “Przestworza,” and this time, Wojtasik has invited Anna Maria Jopek to join his quintet. In Jastrzębie-Zdrój, we will hear another installment of this musical relationship. They will be joined by Marcin Kaletka on saxophone, Michał Tokaj on piano, Michał Barański on double bass, and Łukasz Żyta on drums. The following festival days will be a time of artistic exploration and discussion about the state of culture.
On April 25, the Maciej Obara Quartet (Maciej Obara, Dominik Wania, Mats Eilertsen, Gard Nilssen) will perform on the main stage of Łaźnia Moszczenica. All artists are signed to the prestigious ECM Records label. The musicians will present fresh compositions by Obara, in which Scandinavian lyricism collides with Central European intensity.
On Sunday, April 26th, the premiere of Anna Gadt & Warsaw Cello Quartet’s project “Coincidentia Oppositorum” will take place in the Pillar Room. The vocalist, known for her interdisciplinary explorations at the intersection of jazz and contemporary music, will present material based on original compositions instrumented by Milan Rabija. The project embodies the festival’s idea of dialogue: between improvisation and planned form, the rawness of string instruments and the plasticity of the voice.
A key element of the program, extending beyond the concert framework, will be a panel discussion devoted to the state of original music and the challenges facing the contemporary music industry. The theme will be: “Jazz as a process, not a product. On the difficult art of promoting one’s own voice.” The meeting, attended by renowned journalists, organizers, promoters, and musicians, aims to provide a platform for exchanging experiences and debating mechanisms for supporting artists working outside the commercial mainstream. The panel will include Karolina Juzwa, Marta Kula, Aya Al Azab, Andrzej Zieliński, Jiří Pospěch, Magdaléna Wierzgoń i Przemysław Strączek.
On April 30th, in celebration of International Jazz Day, the festival will move to Bohumín, focusing on integrating the artistic communities of the borderland. The event will begin with a concert by Kahoma Trio & Marcin Żupański, a Czech ensemble consisting of Jan Kavka on piano, Marek Dufek on double bass, and Kamil Slezák on drums, with Polish multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger Marcin Żupański. The Kahoma Trio’s work is rooted in song and an attention to tonal color, skillfully interwoven with improvisation and rhythmic variation.
The collaboration with Żupański will enrich these principles with a new palette of wind instrument sounds. The evening will conclude with a Jam Session for students from the Polish-Czech region. “Jazz is an international language. Polish-Czech integration is crucial for our border region,” the organizer emphasizes.
The festival’s culmination (May 8th) will be a concert by the Andy Sheppard & Przemysław Strączek Trio promoting the album “Endless Mystery,” the result of several years of collaboration between guitarist and composer Przemysław Strączek and the icon of European jazz, British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Their project combines Slavic sensibilities with European jazz traditions.
The festival not only showcases the artistic visions of the invited artists but also strengthens the city’s position on the Polish jazz scene. Aya Al Azab The festival’s founder and artistic director is Przemysław Strączek. The event is organized by the Institute of Heritage and Dialogue and the Foundation for Artistic Creativity – Jazzu Trzeba. The festival is co-financed from the budget of the city of Jastrzębie-Zdrój. The event is sponsored by Orlen Termika Silesia SA
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