Jazz lovers are in for a real treat with the arrival of the North Rhine Westphalia Youth Jazz Orchestra who will be performing at the Mediterranean Conference Centre tomorrow and Monday.
This orchestra consists of five saxophones, four trombones, five trumpets as well as percussion, bass, guitar, piano, keyboards and vocals. Comprising 27 musicians, this orchestra has successfully exported jazz music all around the globe with trips to Asia, Africa, South America and of course Europe.
Since the band’s inception in 1975, almost 600 members have graduated from the orchestra to become famous musicians in their own right. Till Brönner, the world-renowned trumpet player, the acclaimed pianist Frank Chastenier and the celebrated trumpeter Markus Stockhausen all played with the orchestra in their younger days. Many other ex-members of this ensemble are playing in well established music formations, among them the WDR and the NDR-Big Band.
The band also has three conductors, each of whom specialise in a particular style and always adapt some traditional local music in to the orchestra’s repertoire.
The Orchestra has made a name for itself by performing extraordinary and innovative projects. This is especially true in the case of the work done together with classical orchestras.
The Orchestra has performed in many concerts organised all over the world, including tours to the former Soviet Union, Turkey, Africa, North-, Central - and South America, the Caribbean, Australia and also India. In May 1996, the Band had an astoundingly successful tour of China, playing to sold-out audiences. As a result, the band returned to the land of the rising sun for another successful tour in April 1998.
In spring of the year 2000 the Ensemble celebrated its 25th anniversary, together with well-known musicians from the German jazz scene, Paul Kuhn and Klaus Doldinger, as their special guests. Roger Willemsen hosted the concerts which took place in venues including the Cologne Philharmonic and the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. All concerts were sold out.
In April 2001, the Band toured to Belarus to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Following an invitation from the Goethe Institute in 2003, the Ensemble undertook tours of South Korea and Morocco. In the summer of 2004, the Orchestra went to seven Middle American countries and in 2005 and 2006 to Greece and Estonia, Southeast-Asia was the destination in 2007.
The Orchestra celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2005 together with the Cuban saxophone player Paquito d’Rivera, the famous actress Katja Riemann and the pianist from the WDR-Big Band, Frank Chastenier.
The forthcoming performances at the Mediterranean Conference Centre offer a rare and unique opportunity for listeners to experience a big jazz band, the likes of which Malta has never seen.
For additional information, or ticket bookings, call the MCC booking office on 2559-5750 – 1, or by email to [email protected]. Ticket prices vary from e11 for those who present their student or senior citizen cards, and then from e14 to e35. Not to be missed.