Students are travelling to Mongolia to attend meetings of the International Association of Schools of Jazz

From Monday 6 to Saturday 11 July 2026, the annual meeting of the »International Association of Schools of Jazz« (IASJ) took place in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, and students from the HMTM’s Jazz Institute were there. A report by Thomas Meindl, Ida Koch, Aidana Zhakupova, Enji Erkhem and Khasar Ganbaatar:

»After we’d all arrived in Ulaanbaatar at different times – some of us didn’t reach our accommodation until 4:00 AM – the IASJ programme began at 10 AM on Monday. Of course, the six-hour time difference meant we were feeling a bit jet-lagged, but our excitement at finally meeting jazz musicians from all over the world outweighed that. That said, it wasn’t at all easy to keep track of everything and remember all the new names. Fortunately, everyone was given name badges at the start, which also listed their instrument or role, university and country. In addition, all participants received a shoulder bag containing welcome gifts, such as a personalised thermos flask or a traditional Mongolian garment.«

Each day followed a set schedule, which always began with breakfast at the university. This was followed by the »Morning Gathering« with Danilo Pérez, who was this year’s »Artist in Residence«. The daily programme also included a three-hour combo rehearsal with tutors such as Edu Ribeiro, Paul Tynan, Enji Erkhem, Sunny Kim, Carlo Mombelli, Rainer Böhm and Massimo Cavalli. The aim was for each of the seven combos to perform a 45-minute set at a concert at the end of the week. In addition, there were masterclasses led by outstanding jazz musicians, all of whom are part of the IASJ. For example, we attended Edu Ribeiro’s masterclass on Brazilian rhythms and Josia Rakotondravohitra’s masterclass on rhythms from Madagascar. Both were very inspiring and left us wanting more.

Every evening there were jam sessions at various venues. You could get to pretty much everything in the city on foot, and we soon found our way around even without a smartphone. A good ›hang‹ was therefore guaranteed every evening. One of our very own personal highlights was the concert day to round off the gathering. The concert was planned as an open-air event, but unfortunately it had started raining so heavily that we had to move to the local jazz club »Fat Cat« for the last two combo performances. It was just a shame that the club had no electricity at the time. What might initially have been described as a »worst-case scenario« turned into a very special moment: the first of the two combos played their set entirely acoustically. The atmosphere was incredible and the focus on the music was more intense than we’d rarely experienced before. No chatter, no air conditioning, no clinking glasses from the bar. Just music.