The anniversary Jazz Days will open with three commissioned works: Norwegian pianist (and novelist) Ketil Bjørnstad will combine his albums "Images" and "Cantata on Texts by Edvard Munch" for the first time in a jazz-and-painting program in a solo concert. Julia Hülsmann and her quartet with singer Theo Bleckmann, on the other hand, devote themselves to literature and for the first time present poetry set to music in "The Root" from four centuries, from Shakespeare to Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to Kurt Weill. Beat Freisens expands his already large Spelunkenorchester by 4 singers, 8 wind players and 2 guitarists for the premiere of a singspiel based on Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book".

Spelunkenorchester "Letting in the Jungle" Beat Freisen (comp, dr, perc), Johannes Dittmar (va, comp), Spelunkenorchester (conductor: Jobst Liebrecht)

Ketil Bjørnstad "Images/Edvard Munch" solo piano

Julia Hülsmann Quartet feat. Theo Bleckmann "From Shakespeare to Kurt Weill" Julia Hülsmann (p), Tom Arthurs (tp, flh), Marc Muellbauer (kb), Heinrich Köbberling (dr) and Theo Bleckmann (voc)