JAZZ FINLAND FESTIVAL TO SHOWCASE THE BEST OF FINNISH JAZZ 18 TO 21 SEPTEMBER

The Jazz Finland Festival, taking place in five different venues around Helsinki, is the largest showcase event of Finnish jazz to date. Organised by the Finnish Jazz Federation in co-operation with Music Finland, the Sibelius Academy and the Europe Jazz Network brings a large number of international players in the field of jazz to Helsinki and displays the best that the Finnish scene has to give.

Helsinki will see a new, unique jazz even this September when the Finnish Jazz Federation hosts the inaugural Jazz Finland Festival in co-operation with Music Finland, Sibelius Academy and Europe Jazz Network. The showcase festival introduces a variety of Finnish top-class jazz groups with a special focus on the furtherance of Finnish music export. In addition to offering live music, the festival consists of European Jazz Conference seminar event, inviting more than one hundred European jazz promoters and media representatives to Helsinki. As a part of the live music programme the festival presents young Scandinavian talent in the form of the Young Nordic Jazz Comets showcase. Displaying more than twenty different jazz groups, Jazz Finland Festival is the largest-scale showcase event ever organised in Finland to increase the awareness of jazz music.

Live music will be provided by as such artists as Dalindèo, Ilmiliekki Quartet, Nina Mya, Timo Lassy Band, Mopo, UMO Jazz Orchestra and Jussi Fredriksson Jazz Wars. The performers have been selected on the strength of their applications, and an important criterion, in addition to versatility and the artistic quality, was the given group’s readiness and enthusiasm to go international in the upcoming few years. Responsible for the artistic matters is a team composed of some of the major forces of Finnish jazz; Juhamatti Kauppinen (Tampere Jazz Happening), Hans Petter Klintrup (Finnish Jazz Federation), Matti Lappalainen (April Jazz), Matti Nives (We Jazz), Annamaija Saarela (Rajatsi ry / Europe Jazz Network) and Jukkis Uotila (Sibelius Academy). The seminar working group is formed by Lauri Laurila (Finnish Jazz Federation), Annamaija Saarela and Piotr Turkiewicz (Jazztopad Festival). The as the festival’s executive producer acts Lauri Laurila.

The main theme of the seminar programme, Beyond Europe, brings together players from both Asian and European jazz communities. The abovementioned panel is chaired by Ian Petterson (All About Jazz), and speeches will be heard from Agus Setiawan (Wartajazz, Indonesia) and Paul Augustin (Penang Island Jazz, Malesia), to name a few. Other topics include jazz and music business in the age of the digital media, European Jazz Network’s future visions, the current state of jazz festivals and the educational prospects of jazz musicians. A number of key people of the Finnish and international jazz scene will dissect these matters in the conference, including Siegfired Loch, the founder of the German record label ACT, the founder of British Edition Records, Dave Stapleton, Giambattista Tofoni from Europe Jazz Network, Francesco Martinelli from Italian University of Siena Jazz, Simon Purcell from London’s Trinity Laban and Cyril Moshkow from the leading Russian jazz medium, Jazz ru, Annamaija Saarela (Europe Jazz Network), Lauri Laurila (Finnish Jazz Federation), Charles Gil (Vapaat äänet), Matti Lappalainen (April Jazz) and Matti Nives (We Jazz).

The seminar programme can be found in its entirety on: http://jazzfinland.fi/jazz-finland-festival/seminaari

The concerts will be hosted by Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo, Black Box and Camerata halls of Musiikkitalo, Koko Jazz Club, Lavaklubi of the National Theatre and record shop Digelius Music. Tickets are available for purchase at Tiketti and Lippupalvelu ticket shops.

http://jazzfinland.fi/jazz-finland-festival
http://www.jazzliitto.fi
http://facebook.com/jazzfinland

JAZZ FINLAND -FESTIVAALI / HELSINKI 18.–21.9.

THU 18 Sep at 7.00PM / Koko Jazz Club
Young Nordic Jazz Comets 2014
Free entry!

FRI 19 Sep at 8.30PM / Musiikkitalo, Black Box & Camerata
Nina Mya, Kari Ikonen Trio, Ilmiliekki Quartet, Aki Rissanen Trio, AR Quartet
Ticket to all shows 27 € + handling fee, bookings at Lippupalvelu

FRI 19 Sep at 10.00PM / We Jazz: National Theatre's Lavaklubi
Mopo, We Jazz DJs & DJ Sunaga T
Tickets 12 €, bookings at Tiketti

SAT 20 Sep at 8.00PM / Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo, Vaunusali and Vintti
Dalindèo, Timo Lassy Band, Raoul Björkenheim eCsTaSy, Jussi Fredriksson Jazz Wars, Teemu Viinikainen Trio, SUN Trio, Mikko Innanen & Innkvisitio, UMO Jazz Orchestra, Elektro GT, We Jazz DJs
Vaunusali ticket 23 €, Vintti ticket 18 €, all night pass 37 € + handling fee, bookings at Tiketti

SUN 21 Sep at 2.30PM / Record Shop Digelius Music
Panu Savolainen solo
Free entry!

Tickets: book at Lippupalvelu and Tketti shops

Press photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mljfnnvuckf574i/dwmEunSfv4
Further information and interviews: Hei Hei Media, press@heihei.fi / p. 050 367 6453

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