The audience of 20th Jazz Fest Sarajevo 2016 will get the chance tonight, on 04 November at Bosanski kulturni centar, to attend the European premiere of John Zorn‘s The Bagatelles program, the most ambitious project in the history of the festival.
The American composer, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and conductor will be performing for the first time in Sarajevo with the four-hour concert marathon titled John Zorn’s Bagatelles Marathon Sarajevo, which includes 11 ensembles consisting of different formations of 25 musicians from New York’s downtown scene, one of the most important places when it comes to improvised music.
The marathon will start at 19:00 and will be held in two parts (5 ensembles will perform during the first part, and 6 in the second), with a half-hour intermission. Each of the ensembles will play a program of 15-20 minutes, performing a repertoire consisting of compositions Zorn has written from March to May 2015. World premiere of compositions from The Bagatelles program was held every Sunday between July 2015 and March 2016 in New York’s club The Stone. Its European premiere will be held tonight at the Jazz Fest in Sarajevo, whereas for example, the audience in Paris, will have the chance to watch the program next year only at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Tonight at Bosanski kulturni centar, Zorn is going to introduce himself as a saxophonist and leader of the famous Masada quartet, which is going to open the Marathon, and as conductor of the ensemble Asmodeus with Marc Ribot, Trevor Dunn and Kenny Grohowski, who are going to close this special program.
Beside the two mentioned ensembles, the audience will get to hear concerts by the guitar duet of Julian Lage and Gyan Riley, the exciting Nova Quartet, the duet of Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman, the young Trigger, pianist Craig Taborn, the exceptional John Medeski Trio, cellists Erik Friedlander and Jay Campbell in a duet, the sensational Uri Caine Trio and the queen of New York’s electronic music scene Ikue Mori.
Tickets for the Sarajevo marathon can be bought at the Bosanski kulturni centar box office.