Big band jazz double bill
HfM Jazz Orchestra and SchuMu Big Band with music from Duke Ellington to Pat Metheny
With its new format ‘Big Band Jazz in a Double Pack’, the HfM Jazz Orchestra plans to hold regular joint concerts with other big bands in the future. To kick off the series on Thursday, 3 July at 7:30 p.m. in the Festsaal Fürstenhaus, the SchuMu Big Band from the Weimar Music University will be ‘visiting’.
‘I am very pleased that this will strengthen the good cooperation within the departments and make it visible to the outside world,’ says the director of the HfM Jazz Orchestra, Jörn Marcussen-Wulff. Tickets are available for 4 euros at the Weimar Tourist Information Office and at the box office.
Under the direction of Prof. Gero Schmidt-Oberländer, the SchuMu Big Band will take the stage first and play the first set starting at 7:30 p.m. The programme includes ‘Hay Burner’ by Count Basie arranger Sammy Nestico, ‘Up to Date’ by saxophonist Max Greger and the modern jazz number “James” by Pat Metheny. Three songs penned by Harry Warren will also be performed: ‘You'll Never Know’, ‘September In Rain’ and ‘We're In The Money’.
The programme will be rounded off by the bossa classic ‘Desafinado’ and ‘Everybody wants to be a cat’ from the film “Aristocats” in an arrangement by Christoph Hiller. ‘We are particularly pleased that, after our “European tour” to Trier and Luxembourg, we can now play the most beautiful pieces from our repertoire in front of a home audience,’ says Gero Schmidt-Oberländer.
After the interval, the HfM Jazz Orchestra will take to the stage under the baton of Jörn Marcussen-Wulff. During the summer semester, the University of Music Jazz Orchestra focused its work on the music of Duke Ellington and Bob Mintzer.
‘In addition to originals and arrangements by Ellington, who is undoubtedly one of the most important composers of jazz, the audience can also look forward to Mintzer's energetic fusion and funk compositions from the 1980s,’ says the big band leader. The programme includes titles such as ‘Cotton Tail’ and ‘Take the A-train’ by Duke Ellington and “Computer” and ‘Slo-Funk’ by Bob Mintzer.
The University of Music Jazz Orchestra is the large-scale flagship of the jazz studies programmes. From the big band tradition to the modern jazz orchestra, the ensemble enables students to develop their playing skills and stylistic confidence. The SchuMu Big Band, founded in 1998 as an ensemble of the Department of Music Education, consists almost exclusively of teacher training students. Regular performances in Weimar venues and beyond are enthusiastically celebrated.
[13 June 2025]