Pianist

Hornist

Many young musicians dream of performing on the stage of the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. For some of them, this dream will become reality. Selected for the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy, talented young jazz musicians on their way to a professional career receive a week of coaching under the guidance of Donny McCaslin and other renowned musicians and instructors. The crowning finale is a joint concert that presents the results of the week – the exact programme remains a surprise until shortly before the concert.

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Donny McCaslin presents Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

The world is in turmoil: political crises, social tensions and a music market in flux also challenge jazz – and the people who create it. Six prominent jazz musicians – the mentors of this year’s Jazz Academy, which brings together young musicians on their way to becoming professional – talk about life at the crossroads of art, livelihood and present times. How is the everyday life of musicians changing? What new opportunities are emerging – what are being lost? What role does jazz have in a time of uncertainty – artistic, social, commercial, perhaps even political? An evening about artistic realities in 2025 – personal, open and direct.

Jazz Now: Navigating a Changing World

Elbphilharmonie

Søren Nørbo's own compositions form the starting point for a series of unpredictable improvisation concerts with one or more of the Jutland Music Conservatory's students.

Concert with Søren Nørbo, piano

Royal Academy of Music Aarhus

Composer and oud player Anouar Brahem brings to the stage the poignant melodies of his latest album, a new chapter in a repertoire where Arabic tradition, contemporary writing and jazz engage in dialogue.

Over the course of the thirteen albums he has released on the ECM label since the early 1990s, Anouar Brahem has established himself not only as a master of the oud but also as one of the most captivating artists of our time. Released in 2025, * After the Last Sky* is the latest addition to a repertoire that has unfolded at the crossroads of classical Arabic music, jazz, and the harmonic sophistications of Western composition. The album takes its title from a line by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish – “Where shall the birds fly, after the last sky?” – and explores this metaphysical question through a series of delicate chamber pieces. German cellist Anja Lechner, English pianist Django Bates, and Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen join him on stage for concerts of breathtaking expressive depth.

Anouar Brahem

Opéra de Dijon

This new record, After the Last Sky, was released in March 2025 and takes its title from a Mahmoud Darwish poem, which asks ‘Where should the birds fly, after the last sky?’ Its graceful chamber pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass address this metaphysical question and its resonances in our troubled times.

Pianist, Hornist

Django Bates

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 10, 2026

Anouar Brahem · Opéra de Dijon

Nov 15, 2026

Anouar Brahem: After the Last Sky · Barbican Centre

Past events

Aug 24, 2025

Donny McCaslin presents Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy · Elbphilharmonie

Aug 19, 2025

Jazz Now: Navigating a Changing World · Elbphilharmonie

About

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