Jazztopad Festival 2023

The 20th edition of Jazztopad is the quintessence of what has been most important to us from the very beginning of the festival – community, friendship and bonds between artists and the audience. Over the years, we have managed to bring together a unique community that creates a wonderful atmosphere every year. During the anniversary edition, we would like to place special emphasis on this aspect – closeness and community – which is why we will focus on celebrating artists who have been very closely associated with the festival over the years.

This time, Jazztopad will begin with a concert dedicated to Wayne Shorter. It was supposed to be his ninetieth birthday celebration, but fate wanted it differently. Let us recall a slightly less known dimension of his work. Everyone, of course, knows him as a brilliant saxophonist, but much fewer people know that he was also a noteworthy composer writing symphonic music. The concert will feature artists who collaborated with Wayne, especially in recent years. Esperanza Spalding, Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Ravi Coltrane will join them playing the saxophone. These jazz icons will be accompanied by the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic conducted by Clark Rundell.

On the second day of the festival, its long-time friends will perform. During the Saturday concert in the beautiful Hand to Earth project, we will hear Peter Knight, an Australian trumpeter who, together with the Wilfred brothers, reaches back to one of the oldest preserved traditions of performing music by Aboriginal peoples (over forty thousand years of heritage...). I believe that it will be a completely new experience for our audience. Guests from Canada and Sweden – Like the Mind – will appear during the same concert. The leader of this project is violinist Meredith Bates, and its members include Peggy Lee, one of the leading Canadian improvisers of our time, who plays the cello. The next day, Swedish bassist and producer Petter Eldh will appear with his Projekt Drums, which is dominated by club grooves and psychedelic rhythms.

On Thursday, during the next iteration of musical meditation, Marta Warelis, a phenomenal pianist and improviser, will perform. Marta, a Pole residing in the Netherlands, will play in a duet with Frank Rosaly. On Friday, we will witness the premiere of a new project by Craig Taborn with the Lutosławski Quartet – the first part could already be heard by the New York audience during the 7th Jazztopad in New York, but the entire composition will be heard only in Wrocław. If you go to this concert, you will surely make it for the performance of the eccentric Viennese trio /kry at Mleczarnia Club & Café on the same night. The next day, we will traditionally listen to a concert from the Melting Pot series. It’s always a great emotion because you never know what surprise the musicians will prepare. Immediately after it, Jakob Bro will perform with his trio in a stellar line-up with Marilyn Mazur and Arve Henriksen, and late in the evening Ava Mendoza will give a solo concert in Mleczarnia.

Jazztopad Festival 2023 will culminate with a concert on the occasion of the eighty-fifth birthday of Charles Lloyd, who has already been to Wrocław many times, and we can call him our friend. I think it will be a perfect summary of the idea of this year’s edition, i.e. a celebration of closeness, community and friendship. Especially since Jakob Bro, who has dreamed about it for many years, will play with Lloyd as a special guest. I am so happy this meeting will take place for the first time during Jazztopad.

Enabling close relationships between artists and the audience has always been very important to me, which is why for some time now I have not been a supporter of the classic layout of concert halls, which radically separates musicians and listeners. This time in the Main Hall we will use a new formula, used only once before, during the Meditation Day. This close contact is important not only for the audience, but also for the artists who want to feel part of the entire festival community. In this spirit, we also continue concerts in Mleczarnia and in living rooms.

See you in November!

Piotr Turkiewicz
Artistic Director
Jazztopad Festival

 

Meeting with the festival artists: Danilo Pérez
 
17.11.2023
Fri.
6:15 PM
NFM, foyer -1, red banquettes
The Symphonic Music of Wayne Shorter
Opening of the 20th Jazztopad Festival
17.11.2023
Fri.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall
Concerts in Living Rooms
 
18.11.2023
Sat.
12:00 PM
Wrocław, private homes
Meeting with the festival artists: Peter Knight
 
18.11.2023
Sat.
6:15 PM
NFM, foyer -1, red banquettes
Like the Mind – Walk So Silently | Hand to Earth – The Crow
 
18.11.2023
Sat.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall, reversed stage
Once upon a Time in New Orleans
Matylda Gerber & Jazz Ensemble
19.11.2023
Sun.
10:00 AM
NFM, Main Hall
Jazz Morning Kids! Film Matinees with Live Music: Exotic Animals
 
19.11.2023
Sun.
10:30 AM
Wrocław, Cinema Nowe Horyzonty
Concerts in Living Rooms
 
19.11.2023
Sun.
12:00 PM
Wrocław, private homes
Once upon a Time in New Orleans
Matylda Gerber & Jazz Ensemble
19.11.2023
Sun.
12:30 PM
NFM, Main Hall
Petter Eldh’s Projekt Drums
 
19.11.2023
Sun.
8:00 PM
NFM, Black Hall
Marta Warelis & Frank Rosaly – Musical Meditation - premiere
 
23.11.2023
Thu.
7:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Meeting with the festival artists: Craig Taborn
 
24.11.2023
Fri.
6:45 PM
NFM, foyer -3
Craig Taborn & Lutosławski Quartet – premiere
 
24.11.2023
Fri.
7:30 PM
NFM, Red Hall
/KRY
 
24.11.2023
Fri.
9:30 PM
Wrocław, Mleczarnia Club & Cafe
Concerts in Living Rooms
 
25.11.2023
Sat.
12:00 PM
Wrocław, private homes
Melting Pot Made in Wrocław
 
25.11.2023
Sat.
5:00 PM
NFM, foyer -1
Jakob Bro with Arve Henriksen and Marilyn Mazur
 
25.11.2023
Sat.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall, reversed stage
Ava Mendoza solo
 
25.11.2023
Sat.
9:30 PM
Wrocław, Mleczarnia Club & Cafe
Jazz Morning Kids! Film Matinees with Live Music: A Visit to the Countryside
 
26.11.2023
Sun.
10:30 AM
Wrocław, Cinema Nowe Horyzonty
Concerts in Living Rooms
 
26.11.2023
Sun.
12:00 PM
Wrocław, private homes
Charles Lloyd's 85th birthday
20th Jazztopad Festival Finale
26.11.2023
Sun.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall
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