The Bundesjazzorchester (Bujazzo) is dedicating its new programme "Somewhere in the world..." to a special musical search for traces: In cooperation with the Research Centre for Exile and Post-War Culture at Berlin University of the Arts, works by musicians who were persecuted during National Socialism and later applied for compensation in the Federal Republic of Germany will be performed. Their sheet music, which has been preserved in the files of the authorities, forms the basis for newly arranged big band versions. Niels Klein will be the musical director and the first concerts will take place in Dessau (15 March 2025, Kurt Weill Festival) and Burghausen (28 March 2025, International Jazz Week).
One example is the composer Bronisław Kaper, who fled from Berlin to the USA in 1933 to escape the threat of persecution. There he worked as a film composer and wrote jazz standards. When he applied for compensation in 1955, he presented albums of sheet music that impressively demonstrated how promising his career had started in Germany. In addition to Kaper, the Bujazzo programme includes works by Kurt Lewinnek, Friedrich Hollaender and Werner R. Heymann.
The artistic director of Bujazzo, Prof. Niels Klein, is curating the project with musicologists Prof. Dr Dörte Schmidt and Prof. Dr Matthias Pasdzierny. Renowned jazz composers such as Claudia Döffinger, Christian Elsässer, Theresia Philipp, Fabia Mantwill, Johannes Lauer and Niels Klein have been commissioned to transform the historical piano scores into contemporary arrangements for jazz orchestra. Titles such as "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt" (Hollaender), "While My Lady Sleeps" (Kaper) or "Irgendwo auf der Welt" (Heymann) appear in new sonic facets - as modern jazz, avant-garde or newly interpreted pop songs, always in the unmistakable sound of the Bundesjazzorchester.
The rehearsal phase for the programme will take place from 8-15 March 2025 at the Federal Academy for Musical Youth Education in Trossingen
Artistic director: Prof. Niels Klein
Planned arrangements and works:
Claudia Döffinger
I don't know who I belong to (Friedrich Hollaender)
Who cries tears for love today? (Bronislav Kaper)
Christian Elsässer
Beautiful woman you pass me by (Fritz Spielmann)
Why are you like the others (AKA "Once I believed in your love") (Kurt Lewinnek)
Theresia Philipp
While My Lady Sleeps (Bronislav Kaper)
Fabia Mantwill
Darling my heart sends you greetings (Werner Richard Heymann)
Johannes Lauer
I would like to entrust myself to you (Kurt Lewinnek)
Niels Klein
I am set on love from head to toe (Friedrich Hollaender)
Tears in the violin (Bronislav Kaper)
Somewhere in the world (Werner Richard Heymann)