Jazz Showcase

At Müpa Budapest, tomorrow has already arrived! The Jazz Showcase, held on the last weekend of January, is a must if you want to hear the future of Hungarian jazz. The 16th edition of the talent exchange will provide a superb demonstration of how, with unique ideas, persistent hard work and faith in the future, performers discovered a few years ago can go on to enjoy outstanding success. 

The 16th Jazz Showcase will be housed in the Festival Theatre. At 4.30 pm and 6 pm on 27, 28 and 29 January, every day two groups at the start of their career and with a unique sound will provide us with a sample of what they consider great jazz to be. On Friday, the Noémi Nagy Quartet and Trio Johnology, Saturday Symbiosis 5 and Ineffable, and on Sunday the Dina Sárközi Quintet and Balázs Varga / Expression will showcase their talent with a special show and a short discussion, the latter led this year too by László Jazzkovács. Though the best place to listen to these free concerts is at the venue itself, if you can't make it in person you can also follow a live broadcast of the events online. It's also a good idea to take notes, as once again the general public will be asked to vote for their favourite group at Müpa Budapest and on the mupa.hu website. The concerts are also followed by an international jury. At the end of the three days, they will select the recipients of the professional award, while the festival organisers present and club members will present a special award to their favourite act.

On each of the three days, from 8.30 pm at the Festival Theatre we will bear witness to how the performers are each laying down a brick in the path of Hungarian jazz. On Friday, we can look forward to two live acts that blend one into the other, with Lőrinc Barabás and the German multi-instrumentalist Niklas Paschburg. On Saturday we will see the pianist Jesús Molina, who has become a global star with stunning speed, as a special guest of the wind instrument-filled ensemble KRIZ. Then on Sunday, Kaláka will perform as special guests of jazzbois, who gained widespread popularity in record time after their 2017 debut.

This event is presented in association with the Hungarian Jazz Federation.

WINNERS OF THE SHOWCASE

Jury

Kornél Fekete-Kovács – jury chairperson

Composer, trumpet player, the artistic director of Modern Art Orchestra

As a widely renowned composer in the contemporary jazz scene both in Hungary and abroad, his primary focus, not just as a musician, but also as a producer and performer, has been the permeability of the genre. Since 1998, he has participated in a range of ensembles, including big bands and symphonic orchestras. In addition to founding and serving as the artistic director of the Modern Art Orchestra since 2005, he has been actively involved in and producing many musical endeavours, and is one of the most in-demand soloists in Hungary.

Mihály Borbély

Clarinetist and saxophonist, associate professor at the Liszt Academy

The Kossuth, Liszt and eMeRTon prize-winning clarinettist and saxophonist is one of Hungary's most versatile woodwind multi-instrumentalist musicians. He has performed on countless different records, taken to the stage alongside prominent domestic and foreign representatives of a range of musical genres ,and played concerts not only in Hungary but all over Europe, in the US, Mexico and Australia. In addition to his work at the Liszt Academy Jazz Department, Mihály has also held courses at numerous high-ranking universities and conservatories.

Júlia Karosi

singer, composer, songwriter, teacher

While being a constant presence in the Hungarian and global jazz music scene as an artist of many colours, she is teaching the next generation of musicians at Bartók Béla Secondary School Of Music and serving as a board member in the Hungarian Jazz Association. Besides her own compositions, she is keen to select folk songs and songs by composers such as Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, George Gershwin, or Stephen Sondheim while incorporating her own style into the narratives. She has been teaching international master classes on her original singing method based on Bartók’s Microcosmos, for which the Hungarian Academy of Arts has awarded her a fellowship.

Otmar Klammer

music journalist, founder and director of STOCKWERKJAZZ, Graz, artistic director of the International Jazz Festival Leibnitz

He has been a music journalist since 1985, contributing to the most prestigious German and Austrian publications, including the second-largest newspaper in Austria, Kleine Zeitung, with a daily readership of 848 000, and he also hosts a weekly jazz radio programme in Graz. In addition to founding the renowned jazz club Stockwerkjazz in 1994 and serving as the artistic director of the International Jazz Festival Leibnitz since 2013, he has been involved in numerous jazz-related organisation throughout Austria and Germany. 

Christoph Klein

manager and artistic director of ZWE Jazz Club, Vienna

Running ZWE, one of Vienna’s most established Jazz clubs, enjoying a life that features a concert every night. One of the key aspects is developing and supporting young artists in their early professional period and providing a space for them to perform with established cats of high calibre, as well as connecting the European Jazz scene(s) in order to grow together.

Attila László

guitar player, composer, associate professor at the Liszt Academy

The Franz Liszt Prize-winning jazz guitarist and composer is a pre-eminent representative of modern Hungarian jazz and a highly accomplished musician. After graduating from the Jazz Department of the Béla Bartók Conservatory, he began playing in several leading Hungarian jazz ensembles, and has performed alongside some of the greatest legends of American jazz over the course of his career. He has been teaching at the Jazz Department of the Liszt Academy since 1987, and is currently an associate professor, as well as the leader of the university's big band. Throughout the 15 years of the Jazz Showcase, the L.F.Z.E. Senior Big Band he leads has given large-scale gala concerts with international guests such as Miroslav Vitous and Patti Austin.

Steve Rubie

musician, proprietor and managing director of 606 Club, London

Steve Rubie has managed the legendary 606 Club, located in the Chelsea district of London, since 1976. One of the UK’s leading Jazz Clubs, the 606 Club provides the most talented musicians – including many Hungarian artists – with the opportunity to perform every day of the week. In 2006, it was chosen as Jazz Venue of the Year. In 2019 Rubie was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Music by the UK Worshipful Company of Musicians. He has already judged the competitors of the Jazz Showcase on several occasions, most recently in 2022.

Supporters of talent:

  • Budapest Music Centre
  • DS Jazz Club, Dunaszerdahely
  • Valley of the Arts Festival – Veronika Harcsa Courtyard
  • Paloznaki Jazzpiknik
  • Zempléni Festival
  • 606 Club, London