Five of Northern Europe's Finest Improvisers in an Unusual Mashup

Before Sydhavnen's Jazz Torch is passed on to SHARE improfest for the night, Alt R Jazz ends the festival with a bang. Here, two of the night's bands - featuring five of Northern Europe's best improvisers - will be pitted against each other. This is the first time these five musicians will play together - it's bound to be a concert experience out of the ordinary.

Experience a concert with:

Anne Efternøler (DK) is known as “one of today's most creative and exciting trumpet players in the Nordic region” (Salt Peanuts (EU) 2022). Anne Efternøler can be found in the Scandinavian scenes of genre-bending music. Her interests include breaking down musical hierarchies and exploring the interpersonal encounter in music.

Maria Laurette Friis (DK) is one of the most original songwriters, multi-instrumentalists, and improvisers in Denmark. She is known from Tys Tys, Fritz Fontana Ensemble, and the John Cage tribute “Suddenly, Silence”. Her voice is a microcosm of timbres and sounds that she manages with intense musicality and presence.

Johanna Borchert (DE / DK) is a dynamic pianist who explores the potential of the piano with a refined ideal of sound. German major radio station BR5 declared her album FM Biography a “masterpiece of quiet tones” and Süddeutsche Zeitung heard “a new cosmos of sound full of harmoniously balanced contrasts”.

Marie Daniels is a fantastic vocalist living in Cologne, Germany, and is a regular member of various bands, including the quartet h i l d e (recipient of the Carl Dörken Foundation scholarship) and Marie Mokati, which received the Sparda Jazz Award in 2015. Marie Daniels belongs to two music collectives in NRW, PENG e.V. and the Dorf & Umland collective.

Mette Marie Ørnstrup is a vocalist and percussionist who has explored many musical frontiers as an improviser, performer, and global musician. With one foot in free improvisation and one in world music, Mette Marie offers a unique sound with a wide range of musical landscapes and structures.