NICA exchange trifft Cologne Jazzweek 2023!

The concert series with a focus on international networking is part of the festival in Cologne for the second time

After a successful start of the concert series “NICA exchange” in cooperation with the Cologne Jazzweek (12 - 18 August 2023) in the previous year and its successful start in the regular programme of Stadtgarten Köln, the cooperation will be continued with three concerts under the title “NICA exchange x CJW” at this year’s festival.

The cooperation project enables up-and-coming national and international musicians, especially from the fields of jazz and improvised music, to play on the stages of the Cologne Festival. The main focus of the concert series is to create spaces of exchange for a young, experimental generation of musicians, to encourage sustainable networking and creative exchange and, in the context of the festival, to initiate a connection with an audience eager to discover new things.

This year, France and Finland are participating. The artists were selected in cooperation with the NICA partner organisations there (AJC Jazz and We Jazz), who in turn invite NICA artists and support them in their research, networking and presentation.

In addition to international acquaintance, the project focuses on the stage as a place of encounter and at this point the festival premiere dudek carnival [an empty room, then smiling] can be highlighted. NICA artist Fabian Dudek was commissioned by NICA artist development and Cologne Jazzweek to compose a piece and has put together an international band for it, including the two up-and-coming New York-based musicians Sasha Berliner (vibraphone) and Lesley Mok (drums).

An overview of all “NICA exchange x CJW” projects:

- 14.8. 21:00 Stadtgarten: dudek carnival | an empty room, then smiling |
- 14.8. 22:30 Jaki: Superposition
- 18.8. 18:30 Green Room: Nefertiti Quartet feat. Frederik Köster

Cologne Jazzweek has been taking over Cologne’s city centre in August since 2021. For a full week, the varied programme offers its listeners a cross-section of the Cologne, German and international music scene. In addition to the stages in the Stadtgarten Köln, concerts also take place in the WDR Sendesaal, CBE, Loft Köln and Philharmonie Köln, among others.