Foto: Prof. Dr. Andreas Kissenbeck

Review: EUNIC project "Blue Sky Messengers" 2023 in Mongolia

"Six students of the HMTM Jazz Institute traveled to Mongolia from 20.08. to 02.09.2023. Together with jazz students from Paris, Aarlborg, Klagenfurt and Ulan Bator they formed a big band, which first rehearsed for a week in a yurt tent camp in the middle of nature and far away from any city. The repertoire consisted of compositions and arrangements by students of the participating jazz institutes. Six concerts followed, one of them in the State Philharmonic Hall in Ulaanbaatar. As lecturers of the HMTM Prof. h.c. Martin Zenker and Prof. Dr. Andreas Kissenbeck were present, as well as sound engineer Peter Brümmer, who recorded the last three concerts at the Jazz Club Fat Cat in Ulan Bator. The recordings are to be released as an album.

The reason for the concert tour was that the HMTM, together with the three other European universities, was selected to participate in this EU-funded big band project. There was full funding from EU funds and contributions from the cultural institutes of the EUNIC cluster (European Union Institute for Culture). The project was organized and carried out by Prof. h.c. Martin Zenker together with the JazzLab NGO."

Prof. Dr. Andreas Kissenbeck

Here is a short video review

The following students of the Jazz Institute participated in the project:

Tom Förster - Tenor Sax
Luis Burger - Alto Sax
Marie Kuhar - Trombone
Linus Coutureau - Baritone Sax
Julia Fröhlich - vocals
Johannes Stern - double bass