Written by Jazzahead! gears up for a lively twist as it reveals the initial lineup for its 2024 edition. Set to unfold from April 11 to 13, the eighteenth edition of the trade fair and festival adopts the theme “New Horizons,” with the Netherlands as the featured partner country.
The Gala Concert, scheduled for Saturday, April 13, 2024, at 8 pm in the Hansesaal of Congress Centrum Bremen, promises a vibrant experience with Dutch trumpet sensation Maite Hontelé and the esteemed Dutch youth jazz orchestra NJJO (Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest) taking the stage. The focus of the concert will be Cuban mambo, with additional guest performers yet to be unveiled.
In a departure from tradition, the Gala Concert, labeled by newly appointed Artistic Advisor Götz Bühler as “an absolutely danceable highlight,” will not be a fully seated affair. This shift aligns with the event’s objective to engage a younger audience, as asserted by Sybille Kornitschky, CEO of jazzahead!
The concert aims to showcase the enduring fascination, emotive power, and relevance of mambo, a genre that originated in African-influenced Cuba and gained global prominence from the 1940s onward. The evening, themed around the joy and energy of mambo, will feature surprise guests, with Bühler teasing the inclusion of some “really good names.”
Maite Hontelé, recognized as one of the most sought-after jazz musicians of her generation, expresses her delight at being part of the gala. Having previously performed at jazzahead! in 2016 as part of the “Overseas Night” for Colombia, Hontelé looks forward to presenting her vision of mambo alongside NJJO, She stated: “I am very happy and honored with the invitation to play at jazzahead!’s gala! This time the NJJO (Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest) is a collection of the top Dutch Jazz and Latin talent. We play our vision of the Mambo: an ideal fusion of styles and therefore both a pleasure for the ear and the guarantee for a very danceable, cheerful evening.”
Tickets for the gala concert will be on sale from December. Tickets for this (and later for all jazzahead! events) are available from the advance booking offices as well as from Nordwest Ticket via its own webshop. Tickets are also available from the ticket service at the Glocke Theater and at the Weser-Kurier press centre, at all regional newspaper outlets or online at the jazzahead! website.
Featured Image by Jessie Kamp & Hugo Thomassen.
Last modified: December 9, 2023
