Polish Jazz Festival in Tel Aviv kicks off – online event

Four weekends of Polish Jazz and Polish-Israeli jazz performances produced by the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv, Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw and the Israeli Jazz Fun Club  – between  August 27 and  September 17.

The event, under the artistic direction of Barak Weiss, will take place over four weekends

from August 27 to September 17, will include live performances broadcasted online, online meetings with artists,

lectures on music and more. The festival originally scheduled to take place live in June 2020 in Tel Aviv

due to the pandemic global situation was moved to the end of summer and will be broadcasted online.

Poland’s position in the world musical arena can be described as “Jazz Power”. 

Since the late 50s, when jazz in Poland was a symbol of the desire for freedom from the communist regime,

to this day, Poland is one of the leading countries on the global jazz scene.

The Polish jazz scene is one of the highest quality and is one of the most recognizable brands

of Polish modern culture. Polish jazz ensembles regularly perform at all the leading jazz festivals

and on the most important stages in the world.

Despite this, the jazz fan base in Israel has hardly been exposed to Polish jazz in general

and contemporary jazz in particular.

For the Festival Facebook page 

The festival will include:

– 3 concerts by some of the leading Polish jazz ensembles;

– A marathon of 4 performances by leading Israeli ensembles that will play jazz arrangements of music

   by the great Polish composer, Frederic Chopin, which were written especially for the festival;

– Online meetings and interviews of festival artists, Poles and Israelis, with festival audience; 

– A lecture on the history of jazz, by one of the great experts in the field.

Performances Schedule:

August 27th 20:00 – Marcin Wasilewski Trio – For listening 

September 2nd 20:00 – A lecture on the history of jazz by the expert Piotr Schmidt

September 3rd 20:00 – The O.N.E. quintet – For listening 

September 9th 20:00 – Chopin Marathon by Israeli musicians  

September 17th 20:00 – Kuba Więcek trio – For listening  +

For listening 

The Polish ensembles that will perform at the festival:

Marcin Wasilewski Trio – led by Marcin Wasilewski, the most active, well-known and respected Polish jazz artist

in the world jazz scene – who has played for years with renowned Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and today,

records on the renowned label ECM.

Kuba Więcek trio – led by the young saxophonist who is considered a European sensation –

who participated in and won jazz competitions on prestigious stages around the world

and was chosen to play at the important jazz fair in the world Jazzahead;

The female quintet O.N.E. – combining modern jazz with elements of Polish folk music.

The debut album of the quintet O.N.E. this year has come out and the reviews are rave.

Chopin Marathon by Israeli musicians:

The marathon will include four Israeli ensembles led by the best jazz pianists in the country,

who will improvise and play jazz arrangements of Frederic Chopin’s music, which were written

especially for the festival.  Participants:

Tom Oren – piano solo;

Hila Kulik and Hadar Neuberg – piano-flute duet;

Guy Mintus Trio;

Uriel Herman-Maya Beleitzman-Ehud Aton (piano-double bass-cello).

About the co-organizers:

Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is a national cultural institution, under supervision of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Heritage, whose mission is to strengthen and communicate Poland’s cultural dimension through active participation in international cultural exchanges. The institute manages cultural projects in seventy countries. Since the year 2000 more than six thousand events have been held which have attracted more than fifty-seven million viewers and listeners on five continents. All projects of the Institute are conducted under its main brand name, Culture.pl.

Jazz Fun Club, Israel

The Social Jazz Fun Club, is a voluntary organization of about 2000 jazz enthusiasts. The jazz community began its activities 4 years ago, and it works to satisfy the jazz needs of jazz lovers, needs that are not met at jazz festivals in Israel neither by commercial performances. During its four years of operation, the jazz community has brought to Israel dozens of quality world jazz performances, without artistic compromises and without profit considerations. In addition, it holds jazz evenings with the best Israeli jazz artists, as well as lectures on jazz, meetings with international jazz artists and more.