Written by This month – January 2020, Brussels Jazz Orchestra will hold its eighth International Composition Contest. One of the most important international competitions for jazz composition, its focus is on premiering new pieces written specifically for big band instrumentation. Brussels Jazz Orchestra endeavours to encourage talented international composers and arrangers all over the world and offer them a stage with this competition. In additions, it aims to discover new, high-quality music for jazz orchestra that is relevant to today, and to forge ties for the future with composers from all over the world.
Composers could participate by sending in a work they wrote themselves for the preselection. A ten-piece jury listened to all 168 (!) submissions. Composers from 27 countries and 6 different continents sent in their compositions. The four finalists are Rainer Tempel (DE), Ralf Hesse (DE), Callum Au (GB) and Christopher Zuar (US), who got to the finals of the 2014 edition of the contest. These composers received a creation budget of € 1000 and 10 weeks’ time to write a new composition for Brussels Jazz Orchestra, that will be performed by the orchestra during the Brussels Jazz Festival on January 12 2020.
The BJO ICC Award
An international jury which consists of Pierre Bertrand (FR), Florian Ross (DE), Vellu Halkosalmi (FI) and chairman Philippe Coffyn (chairman of the BJO-Board of directors), will choose the winner. This winner will receive the BJO ICC Award: a cash prize of € 2000 and a professional audio and video recording of the premiere of his composition, performed by Brussels Jazz Orchestra.
The compositions of all the finalists will be performed on Sunday, January 12 2020, 5 pm (CET) by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra during the Brussels Jazz Festival in Flagey (Brussels), led by the finalists. On the same day, the premiere of the documentary ‘Bring it to the People: the film about the Brussels Jazz Orchestra’ of director Guy Fellemans takes place at Flagey (7.30 pm).
Watch the trailer here.
Last modified: January 8, 2020
