BMW Welt Jazz Award 2015 presents the February matinees following the motto “Playing my Guitar”. The ensembles “Camila Meza Quartet” and “Hellmüller Risso Zanoli” on stage at BMW Welt on February 8 and 22, 2015.

Munich. On February 8 and 22, the BMW Welt Jazz Award will present the third and fourth edition of a total of six Sunday morning matinee concerts offered free of charge at BMW Welt. Following the January performance of two trios from Israel and Austria, the American ensemble “Camila Meza Quartet” and the Swiss-Italian trio “Hellmüller Risso Zanoli” will now be given the opportunity to dazzle the jury as well as expert audiences. Both ensembles will showcase the entire range of the jazz guitar in order to qualify for the grand finale of this year’s BMW Welt Jazz Award held on April 18, 2015. 

On February 8, the “Camila Meza Quartet” will be presented at the double-coned structure of BMW Welt. Raised in Santiago de Chile and educated in New York City, guitarist Camila Meza will be accompanied by some of the “hottest” young jazz musicians: Shai Maestro (piano), Linda Oh (bass) and Kendrick Scott (drums). This Chilean-born musician made a name for herself in New York City because of her remarkably broad range of musical skills: as a guitarist Camila Meza displays outstanding technique, on top of which she is a very expressive singer as well as a talented composer. Which is why it came as no surprise that renowned jazz musicians such as Paquito D’Rivera or Aaron Goldberg (who produced the latest of her three albums) were keen to collaborate with this artist. 

On February 22, the trio Hellmüller Risso Zanoli will enter the competition for a spot at the grand finale. Franz Hellmüller, who has become one of Switzerland’s most important jazz guitarists ever since the release of his latest two albums, will be coming to Munich with two Italian musicians – Stefano Risso (bass) and Marco Zanoli (drums). The ensemble impresses with improvised pieces that are being performed and composed simultaneously (free improvisation). Their compositions, while being highly complex and equally variable, never cease to be catchy and harmonious. Franz Hellmüller was a student of several distinguished masters including Dave Liebman, Frank Möbus, John Abercrombie and Kurt Rosenwinkel. He has played alongside renowned Swiss jazz musicians such as Nat Su and Norbert Pfammater and he was a band member of Jochen Baldes Subnoder, Galeone and H2S2. 

Programme of BMW Welt Jazz Award 2015  

Matinees: 11 am to c.1:30 pm at the double-coned structure of BMW Welt: 

January 18, 2015         Michel Sajrawy Trio

January 25, 2015         FAT – Fabulous Austrian Trio

February 8, 2015         Camila Meza Quartet

February 22, 2015       Hellmüller Risso Zanoli

March 8, 2015              Manu Codjia Trio

March 15, 2015            Carl Mörner Ringström Majestic Orchestra

Admission is free of charge but seating is limited. Tickets are subject to availability. Doors open at 10.30 am. 

Grand finale in the auditorium of BMW Welt at 7 pm

April 18, 2015, final concert by the two nominated finalists 

Tickets for the grand finale on April 18, 2015 have been available at BMW Welt and München Ticket since January 18, 2015. 

As in previous years, the programme will be hosted by Beate Sampson, jazz expert and editor at the German broadcasting station “BR-KLASSIK”. 

Jury

The distinguished panel of experts, chaired by Oliver Hochkeppel (music and culture journalist at Süddeutsche Zeitung) includes:

Roland Spiegel, editor at the music desk and jazz expert at German broadcasting station Bayerischer Rundfunk “BR‑KLASSIK“;

Andreas Kolb, editor-in-chief of the magazines “JazzZeitung” and “neue musikzeitung;

Heike Lies, musicologist, Music and Music Theatre Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital Munich;

Christiane Böhnke-Geisse, Jazz & Music Consulting and Promotion. 

This edition of the BMW Welt Jazz Award will once again enjoy the generous support of “BR-KLASSIK”, “JazzZeitung”, Ludwig Beck department store, resort Schloss Elmau and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the city of Munich. 

Photographic material is available at BMW PressClub (www.press.bmwgroup.com)

and via LoeschHundLiepold Kommunikation GmbH

on behalf of the department for public relations of BMW Welt.

Telephone: +49-89-720187-10

Email: bmw-welt@lhlk.de

For further questions please contact: 

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-89-382-24753

Leonie Laskowski

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-89-382-45382

Daria Gotto-Nikitina

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Spokesperson Marketing, BMW Welt and FIZ Future

Telephone: +49-89-382-60340

Internet:  www.press.bmwgroup.com, Mail: presse@bmw.de

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For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business. 

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