Richard Strauss and jazz? If anyone can forge a musical connection here, it’s Günter Baby Sommer, whose preoccupation with Dmitri Shostakovich has already confirmed his ability to add and create interesting, new musical takes on the so-called »classical« repertoire. And that’s a lot more than just »Loud & Quiet«: it’s the feeling of how music also breathes and invokes hugely diverse yearnings for harmony and sound. Günter Baby Sommer and his jamming fellow musicians approach the music of Richard Strauss with contemporary forms of improvisation that spring from the breeding ground of jazz music.

For more than seven years, the highly successful »A Window on Jazz« series at Semper Zwei has been curated by free-jazz legend Günter Baby Sommer together with photographer and jazz connoisseur Matthias Creutziger. Their programmes have long gained a cult following, and that alone is reason to celebrate. But the master of percussion is himself a true music legend, having rocked the jazz scene for over 60 years. This year, Günter Baby Sommer, the »grand old man of East German free jazz« (Der Spiegel), turns 80 and is certainly not planning to retire any time soon!

In his honour, the Semperoper’s Semper Zwei venue, in cooperation with Dresden’s leading jazz club, the Jazzclub Tonne, is organising a three-concert festival with many illustrious guests, lots of good music and, of course, Günter Baby Sommer himself. Happy Birthday!

The first concert of the jazz festival in Semper Zwei will feature the poet Nora Gomringer, the String Trio and Baby Sommer’s Brother & Sisterhood of Breath. The second concert of the Birthday Jazz Festival will bring together Wolf Biermann, the »Clarinet Summit« and »Günter Baby Sommer & the Lucaciu Brothers«. The Jazz Festival’s grand finale will take place at the legendary jazz club Die Tonne, where the audience can look forward to an »All Star Band« made up of Till Brönner, Daniel Ermann, Nils Wogram, Robert Lucaciu and, of course, Günter Baby Sommer.

In cooperation with Jazzclub Tonne e.V.

For more than seven years, the highly successful »A Window on Jazz« series at Semper Zwei has been curated by free-jazz legend Günter Baby Sommer together with photographer and jazz connoisseur Matthias Creutziger. Their programmes have long gained a cult following, and that alone is reason to celebrate. But the master of percussion is himself a true music legend, having rocked the jazz scene for over 60 years. This year, Günter Baby Sommer, the »grand old man of East German free jazz« (Der Spiegel), turns 80 and is certainly not planning to retire any time soon!

In his honour, the Semperoper’s Semper Zwei venue, in cooperation with Dresden’s leading jazz club, the Jazzclub Tonne, is organising a three-concert festival with many illustrious guests, lots of good music and, of course, Günter Baby Sommer himself. Happy Birthday!

The first concert of the jazz festival in Semper Zwei will feature the poet Nora Gomringer, the String Trio and Baby Sommer’s Brother & Sisterhood of Breath. The second concert of the Birthday Jazz Festival will bring together Wolf Biermann, the »Clarinet Summit« and »Günter Baby Sommer & the Lucaciu Brothers«. The Jazz Festival’s grand finale will take place at the legendary jazz club Die Tonne, where the audience can look forward to an »All Star Band« made up of Till Brönner, Daniel Ermann, Nils Wogram, Robert Lucaciu and, of course, Günter Baby Sommer.

In cooperation with Jazzclub Tonne e.V.