Curtain Calls: Behind the Scenes of Szczecin Jazz

Launching 25 February and running through to the 4th of March, Szczecin Jazz will host Europe’s first hybrid festival of the year. Over the course of 7 days, each night one act will grace a stage in Szczecin, Northwestern Poland’s largest city, performing in front of both an online and in-person audience.

Leading up to the festival, Szczecin Jazz and Jazz in Europe are partnering to offer an exclusive behind the scenes look with a series of vlogs and interviews hosted by Dutch jazz promoter and media director Arlette Hovinga. In five episodes, airing on Jazz in Europe’s website each night at 20:00 CET, Arlette will explore the dynamics of show production, and of course, the excitement of an upcoming set.

Episode 5 – Friday 26 Feb 2021

In this final episode of Curtain Calls: Behind the Scenes of Szczecin Jazz, let’s talk about the fun stuff! We are at Pleciuga Puppet Theater to meet artistic coordinator Izabella Solarek to talk about the hospitality side of the production process and her favorite Szczecin Jazz Festival memory while on the job. What’s the most important thing about being hospitable?

Finally, – yes, really – we reflect on the first performance of this edition of Szczecin Jazz Festival with Stephane Belmondo, who shares his feelings about his first international concert of 2021 with us on this grand finale episode.

Of course, all concerts of Szczecin Jazz Festival are live-streamed free of charge, so have a look on their Facebook page and enjoy the show! We surely will, and rumor has it, you’ve not seen the last of us yet…

Episode 4 – Thursday 25 Feb 2021

Episode four takes vlog host Arlette Hovinga to the beautiful Philharmonic Hall of Szczecin. While Covid measures have closed off most of this building to the public outside of their concerts, the entrance and exterior alone are already a beautiful, bright sight.

In the hallway, we will meet Joanna Leszczyńska, director of the cultural center of Szczecin City Hall. She explains job and support for the festival and the importance of this event for the city. Then, we welcome perhaps the most rock & roll jazz guitarist in Europe; Jakub ‘Mizer’ Mizeracki, who will grace the stage of Szczecin Jazz Festival more than once in the upcoming week.

Episode 3 – Wednesday 24 Feb 2021

In this third episode of Curtain Calls: Behind the Scenes of Szczecin Jazz, we talk about lights with Dawid Karolak, light technician at the Opera Na Zamku in Szczecin. You might remember this venue from another episode, and it was definitely good to be back!

Aside from shining a light on this part of the production process, this episode also features a special guest: saxophonist and Amersfoort Jazz festival director Alexander Beets! He shares stories of his relationship to Szczecin Jazz as well as some of his jazz bucketlist items.

Join us at the Opera at the Castle one more time this evening!

Episode 2 – Tuesday 23 Feb 2021

In corona times, streaming has become a pivotal part of an artist’s digital toolkit. While the magic of in-person attendance is hard (or perhaps impossible) to match, livestream gigs offer both the artist and the audience the next best thing while covid-restrictions are still enforced around the world.

In this second episode of Curtain Calls: Behind the Scenes of Szczecin Jazz Festival, vlog host Arlette Hovinga explores the importance of streaming. How does it work? What’s it like for professionals to embrace this new technology on both sides of the camera?

Episode 1 – Monday 22 Feb 2021

On this first day of this week’s vlog series Curtain Calls: Behind the Scenes of Szczecin Jazz, vlog host Arlette Hovinga talks about audio. So what’s the most important thing about being an audio engineer, and what does that job entail? At the Szczecin Opera na Zamku (Opera at the Castle) Arlette talks to audio engineer Jakub Skowronski, and meets festival director, musician, and bandleader Sylwester Ostrowski. After all, without audio, there is no sound.. and without sound, there’s no music!

Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of Curtain Calls. Starting 25 Feb we’ll be streaming the concerts live here on Jazz In Europe. So stay tuned.

Concert Live Stream Curtain Calls