Jazz Institute students travel to Mongolia for unique big band project

Six students from our university’s Jazz Institute travelled to Mongolia from August 20 to September 2, 2023. Tom Förster (tenor saxophone), Luis Burger (alto saxophone), Marie Kuhar (trombone), Linus Coutureau (baritone saxophone), Julia Fröhlich (vocals) and Johannes Stern (double bass) formed a big band with students from Paris, Aarlborg, Klagenfurt and Ulan Bator.

After their arrival, the group rehearsed for a week in a yurt tent camp in the middle of Mongolian nature, far away from any city. The repertoire consisted of compositions and arrangements by students from the participating jazz institutes. This was followed by a total of six concerts, one of which took place in the Ulaanbaatar State Philharmonic Hall.

The students from our Jazz Institute were accompanied by Prof. h.c. Martin Zenker, Prof. Dr. Andreas Kissenbeck and sound engineer Peter Brümmer, who recorded the last three concerts at the Fat Cat Jazz Club in Ulan Bator. The recordings are to be released as an album.

The concert tour was financed by EU funds and contributions from the cultural institutes of the EUNIC Cluster (European Union Institute for Culture). The project was organized and carried out by Prof. h.c. Martin Zenker together with the JazzLab NGO.