This is the festival programme!

Roll up your trousers and off to Nils by the sea! We're looking forward to the summer and we've got plenty of reasons to do so - because the line-up for this year's JazzBaltica has now been published! The festival promises the finest jazz again this year. Tickets are available via this festival website as well as via the ticket hotline 0431-23 70 70. The festival ticket for the entire weekend is already sold out. Festival tickets for 2026 will be available from mid-November 2025.

Nils Landgren, artistic director of JazzBaltica, has once again invited a well-balanced mix of big names and exciting newcomers. International greats from Europe, Africa and the USA include pianist Michael Wollny, Grammy Award winner John Beasley, trumpeter Nils Wülker, guitarist Arne Jansen, kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko, cellist Vincent Ségal, saxophone master Émile Parisien and flautist Magnus Lindgren. They are joined by the powerful energy of the Latvian Radio Big Band, the impressive arrangements of the NDR Big Band and the French band Electro Deluxe, whose nu-jazz transforms the stage into a pulsating sound event.

And the young jazz generation also sets exciting accents - the Mongolian pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar, the Cologne trombonist Janning Trumann, the Armenian-Russian trumpeter Angela Avetisyan and the Ghanaian trumpeter and composer Peter Somuah bring fresh sounds and gripping energy to Timmendorfer Strand.

This year, the accordion will be honoured in a special way when international greats such as Vincent Peirani, Tuulikki Bartosik and Laurent Derache unfold the extraordinary versatility of the instrument - from poetic melancholy to rousing sonic power.

Concerts on the Maritim MainStage 

At the special concert on Thursday evening, the trio ‘Mare Nostrum’ - once the Romans' name for the Mediterranean - will unfold a musical interplay of touching lightness and floating melancholy. French accordionist Richard Galliano, Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren and Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu weave classical music, folk music and jazz into a flowing fabric of sound that breathes and touches. Their art unfolds a sound language that tells of Gallic musette, Sardinian melodies and Nordic folklore with delicate nuances, soft tones and fine rhythms. A trialogue of listening and feeling. (JB S)

Friday begins at 6 pm with the warm, haunting sounds of Peter Somuah. The trumpeter found his musical home in the melodies of Miles Davis and Roy Hargrove. At the age of 16, he listened to their music without fail, which still influences his playing today. Growing up in Ghana and influenced by the rhythms of his homeland, he later moved to Rotterdam for love and founded his own band there. His sound is a vibrant fusion of African tradition, European jazz, Afrobeats, funk and electronics - a musical bridge between continents, genres and times. (JB 1)

Michael Wollny began his musical journey classically, with violin and piano lessons. But after listening to Keith Jarrett's ‘Köln Concert’, he turned to jazz. In Würzburg, he studied with jazz pianist and composer Chris Beier, who advised him to go his own way. A recommendation that Wollny has since taken to heart and consistently followed. This is also the case with his trio, consisting of Eric Schaefer (drums) and Tim Lefebvre (bass), with whom he creates music that combines explosive rhythms, delicate soundscapes and experimental noises into a synthesis of Thelonious Monk, Nirvana and Karlheinz Stockhausen. (JB 1)

The band Electro Deluxe captivates the audience with unbridled energy. The sound cosmos of jazz, funk, hip-hop and electro ignites a firework of different sounds and rhythms. The six Frenchmen and the charismatic US singer James Copley have been performing together since 2001, creating a musical language that is lush, precise and captivating. Anyone who has experienced how the septet transforms the Bee Gees classic ‘Stayin’ Alive’ into a funk-laden explosion knows: standing still is impossible, dancing is inevitable. (JB 2)

The first concert on Saturday will be performed by Catalan singer, trombonist and composer Rita Payés. Having grown up in a family of musicians, she was significantly influenced by her father, a professional trumpet player, and her mother, guitarist Elisabeth Roma. She has even released several albums with her mother and regularly works closely with her - as in her latest work ‘De Camino al Camino’. Together with her quintet, she skilfully interweaves jazz with the sounds of her Catalan homeland and traditional Latin American melodies to create music that transcends borders and is deeply moving. (JB 3)

Magnus Lindgren is a star on the European jazz scene. As Sweden's leading jazz flutist and at the same time an accomplished saxophonist, arranger and big band arranger, he masterfully combines the playing styles of the classical and modern big band era. His unique, virtuoso style lends his music an unmistakable freshness and dynamism. In his concert with the young Baltic big band Latvian Radio Big Band, he will be supported with expertise and sensitivity by his friend and companion, the American pianist, bandleader and multiple Grammy winner John Beasley. (JB 3)

Michel Schroeder loves musical diversity. The 29-year-old trumpeter, composer and bandleader leads one of the most unusual and fascinating ensembles in German jazz. His Michel Schroeder Ensemble brings together no fewer than 16 musicians. With six wind instruments, four strings, a harp, vocals, piano, bass and drums, the line-up is more reminiscent of a chamber orchestra than a big band. This ensemble, which excels in both jazz and classical contexts, is almost limitless in terms of sound. From swing to techno, free jazz, Latin and classical music - the ensemble's musical universe reflects a magnificent opulence that inspires the spirit. (JB 4)

The band Umbaji is a convolute of powerful melodies, dense harmonies, improvisation and driving beats. Here, jazz, hip-hop, soul and R&B merge into a unique world of sound. After years of experience as a member of Nils Landgren's Funk Unit and the funk fusion band Mezzoforte, the Swedish saxophonist Jonas Wall founded this project. With a hand-picked line-up of musicians from Sweden, Iceland and Denmark - some of them also Mezzoforte colleagues - he unfolds a space for creative freedom in which something new and inspiring emerges from the different genres. (JB 4)

Céline Bonacina from France is one of the most outstanding musicians on the contemporary jazz scene. Her saxophone playing is a kaleidoscope of fascinating sound colours that enchant with their energetic groove and delicate lightness. Repeatedly honoured by the US magazine ‘downbeat’ as a rising star on the saxophone, she unfolds the full expressive power of her instrument - from funky phrases to free, noisy playing. Her artistic career has taken her alongside greats such as Omar Sosa, Andy Sheppard, Nguyên Lê and Gwilym Simcock. With her latest album ‘Jump!’, she impressively underpins her status as one of the most influential and powerful voices in European jazz. (JB 5)

They have been close friends for more than 20 years and have shared the stage for around 15 years: trumpeter Nils Wülker and guitarist Arne Jansen embark on a fascinating journey of discovery as a duo, constantly finding new facets to their interplay in the interplay of harmony and tension. Their creative dialogue between jazz and pop, between sensitivity and strength, radiates intimacy, virtuosity and an impressive atmospheric density. Both ECHO Jazz Award winners succeed in creating a harmonious balance of closeness and distance in every note. (JB 5)

Luigi Grasso is one of the strongest representatives of Italian jazz. He discovered the saxophone at the age of five and released his first album at 13. Paris was his home for a decade, and since 2019 he has been shaping the sound of the NDR Big Band as a baritone saxophonist. He composed the programme ‘La Dimora dell'Altrove’ (‘Staying Elsewhere’) for them, in which he tells of longing, of the search for a place that remains. Homesickness and arrival, loss and new beginnings are themes that not only characterise his life, but are also reflected in his music in a touching and intelligent way. (JB 6)

She is one of the most exciting German jazz discoveries, even though her roots are in Mongolia: The pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar, born in Ulaanbaatar in 1998, combines various cultural influences in her music with brilliant ease and impressive expressiveness. On her debut album ‘Rising Sun’, she and her quartet unfold passionate, poetic and breathtakingly virtuoso sounds that build bridges between Mongolian traditions, jazz and classical music - an airy sound panorama in which feelings become melodies. (JB 7)

With his latest album ‘Devide the Zero’, Cologne-based trombonist and winner of the German Jazz Award 2024, Janning Trumann, provides a musical retrospective of his time in New York. The work is characterised by clearly structured compositions and a subtle straightforwardness. Supported by his German-American quartet, saxophonist Caroline Davis, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jochen Rueckert, Trumann unfolds a music of impressive harmonic and melodic depth that becomes an incomparably multi-layered experience. (JB 7)

On Sunday evening, the MainStage ends with an extraordinary concert in which African, classical and jazzy soundscapes enter into a fascinating dialogue. What began in 2019 as a spontaneous jam session at the ‘Les Nuits de Fourvière’ festival in Lyon grew into a special formation: the West African kora player Ballaké Sissoko and the French musicians Vincent Ségal (cello), Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (saxophone) combine their different musical roots as ‘Les Égarés’ to create a floating cosmos of sound. West African mandinka tradition, oriental melodies and trance-like jazz structures merge into a musical narrative - sometimes gently flowing, sometimes hypnotically driving, always full of expressiveness and depth. (JB 8)
The open-air concerts can be found in this further article on the free concerts. 

IB.SH-JazzAward

This year, the IB.SH-JazzAward will be presented for the 18th time. The prize, which is endowed with 5,000 euros, annually honours the work and artistic potential of young and promising German jazz musicians. Special consideration is given to talents from northern Germany. Last year, violinist and singer Laila Nysten was honoured with the prize. The jury's decision will be announced on 5 June 2025. The official award ceremony will take place as part of the opening of JazzBaltica on Friday evening on the Maritim MainStage (JB 1).

Thank you 

JazzBaltica would like to thank the main sponsor Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein (IB.SH) as well as sponsors and partners such as the NORDMETALL-Stiftung gradwerk, Süverkrüp, GUTES VOM HOF.SH and the Weiland Kulturstiftung. The long-standing media partners NDR Kultur and ZDF strengthen the popularity of the festival, and JazzBaltica also continues its co-operation with Deutschlandfunk. 

Special thanks go to the state of Schleswig-Holstein for its support. This year, JazzBaltica is once again sponsored by the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand-Niendorf and the Ulbrich Foundation. The festival hotel is the Maritim Seehotel Timmendorfer Strand.