Saxony Youth Jazz Orchestra Performs in Austria

The Saxony Youth Jazz Orchestra (JJO) will be performing in Carinthia in August, featuring pieces by the Austrian composer Reinhold P.-Schmölzer. On August 16, the up-and-coming jazz musicians from Saxony will perform in a double concert with the Carinthian Youth Jazz Orchestra in Gmünd in front of the Gasthof Alte Post, the JJO announced. In case of bad weather, the event will be moved to the Lodronsche Reitschule. Two days later, another double concert will take place at the Waldarena Krumpendorf.

Schmölzer is one of the most distinctive voices in big band jazz

Reinhold “Reini” P.-Schmölzer (42) is a drummer, composer, and arranger and is one of the most distinctive voices on the European jazz orchestra scene. “His work combines the tradition of the big band with contemporary compositional techniques to create a distinctive musical language—precise in structure, expansive in expression,” said project director Ulrike Kirchberg, describing his signature style. Since 2019, he has been teaching jazz arrangement and composition at the Gustav Mahler Private University in Klagenfurt.

Saxony Youth Jazz Orchestra Has Toured Extensively

The Saxony Youth Jazz Orchestra is a big band featuring up to 20 young musicians between the ages of 18 and 26. The ensemble performs with varying lineups. The ensemble has already toured Canada, Greece, India, Hungary, and Israel. Before the concerts in Austria, there will be two “home shows” in Saxony—on August 13 at the Colditzer Jazz Night in the castle courtyard and the following day at the Kulturfabrik Leipzig.