The 43rd Saalfelden Jazz Festival Gathers International Jazz Lovers and Virtuosos
The small town of Saalfelden in Salzburger Land will once again be transformed into a vibrant meeting place for the international jazz scene from August 17 to 20, 2023. Music makers, players, connoisseurs, and lovers of improvised music from all over the world will flock to the 43rd Saalfelden Jazz Festival, which will feature musical highlights and exciting discoveries for four days. Six official stages in the town, as well as the "Mountain Tracks" in the great outdoors, offer a program that will delight every music lover.
For the 43rd edition of the jazz festival, Saalfelden will once again be transformed into a meeting place for the international jazz scene from 17-20.08.2023. / Picture: © jazzsaalfelden.com/MichaelGeissler
The festival attracts not only artists with and without a stage program but also people who are interested in the music industry and appreciate the professional exchange around music. A special focus is on the "Artists in Residence," who each present three different projects, some of them brand new.
This year, visitors can look forward to vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer from Switzerland and, for the first time, Japanese koto player Michiyo Yagi. Yagi, whose extraordinary career has crossed paths with John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Billy Bang, among others, even had her first performance in Austria together with Peter Brötzmann. She expresses her excitement about being an "artist in residence" at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and promises the audience a one hundred percent performance. "I hope Peter will watch over me," she adds in an interview.
The Mainstage and Otto Gruber Hall will offer a variety of musical constellations, including Michiyo Yagi's duo concert with drummer Hamid Drake and Hamid Drake's interplay with pianist Myra Melford. Other highlights include the interplay of Allison Miller, Dayna Stephens, Scott Colley, and Myra Melford, and Lukas König's "Sound Hazard" project with Farida Amadou, Luke Stewart, John McCowen and the voice of Charmaine Lee. Tennessee's young tenor Zoh Amba will also create a buzz, joining pianist Micah Thomas and free-jazz punk drummer Chris Corsano. The German formation Malstrom and Argentine pianist Leo Genovese with Demian Cabaud and Jeff Williams also promise musical excellence.
In Saalfelden, the encounter is writ large, and spontaneous "flash mobs" are part of the festival. The multi-award-winning woodwind player Pepe Auer and his Wood Winds are a constant source of musical surprises in the town. During the event, guests of the Saalfelden Jazz Festival can use various bus lines for their arrival and departure free of charge.
For all those who can't make it to the jazz festival in person, Ö1 will be reporting live. The festival will be broadcast from 10:00 on Klassiktreffpunkt with Helmut Jasbar and from 22:00 on Ö1 Jazznacht with Andreas Felber.
With a total of 176 artists from 14 countries and 5 continents, this year's Saalfelden Jazz Festival promises to be a truly international and musically diverse experience.