CZECH PREMIERE

Vicente-Dikeman-Jones-Drake quartet is an all-star band on the contemporary global scene of free jazz that is rooted in the 60s American tradition. Two expressive soloists, well recognized on the European scene, are complemented by two legendary names from New York: double bass player Brad Jones and drummer Hamid Drake. The quartet is a perfect example of an ensemble that resonates with contemporary trends, and at the same time continues the strong tradition of black music, which had a strong influence on jazz music in the second half of the 20th century. Their music is marked by unbelievable energy and depth. 

Luís Vicente /PT/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ trumpet
John Dikeman /US/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ tenor sax
Brad Jones /US/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass
Hamid Drake /US/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ drums

Amalie Dahl /DEN/ – saxophone, compositions
Oscar Andreas Haug /NOR/ – trumpet
Jørgen Bjelkerud /NOR/ – trombone 
Sofia Salvo /AR/ – barrysax  
Henriette Eilertsen /NOR/ – flute
Ida Løvli Hidle /NOR/ – accordion    
Lisa Ullén /SWE/ – piano  
Anna Ueland /NOR/ – synth   
Paal Nilssen-Love /NOR/ – drums
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten /NOR/ – doublebass
Nicolas Leirtrø /NOR/ – doublebass
Veslemøy Narvesen /NOR/ – drums


CZECH PREMIERE

Dafnie Quintet is based in Trondheim, Norway, and presents the music of saxophonist Amalie Dahl. The structured forms and melodies of the compositions are combined with spontaneous improvisation, enabling the ensemble to communicate and explore freely. This results in expressive music conveying a large scale of emotions and mindsets.
In 2025, Amalie Dahl presents Dafnie Extended. The enlarged version of the band, which was very dynamic on its own, brings the music to a new level: energy, unrestraint, range of sounds, and emotions are pushed to their boundaries. Amalie picked renowned European musicians, enriching the sound palette of the ensemble. 

 

Marek Pospieszalski /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ saxophone
Maniucha Bikont /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ voice, tuba
Artur Majewski /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ trumpet fx
Malina Midera /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ piano
Piotr Bukowski /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠ guitar⁠
Olo Walicki /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ el. bass 
Bartek Szablowski /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ drums

CZECH PREMIERE

Last year, Marek Pospieszalski was commissioned by Sinfonietta Cracovia to create a project based on new arrangements of the soundtrack to the anime classic Cowboy Bebop. An ensemble emerged as a result of this collaboration and was formed specifically for the occasion. The influence of Shinichirō Watanabe's series – a mosaic of various styles and genres – led Pospieszalski to form a group of prominent figures in different music genres; multi-instrumentalists with a rich musical vocabulary and open mind became the foundation of this ever-changing and genre-diverse ensemble. 
This year, Pospieszalski decided to continue with the project. The new cycle of compositions is, compared to its original eclectic nature, more coherent, and places more emphasis on improvisation, drone surfaces, and minimalism. But the original idea of the project – to search for new music in the intersection of individual voices, styles, and influences – remains the same. 

Grzegorz Tarwid /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ grand piano
Max Mucha /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass
Albert Karch /PL/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ drums 


CZECH PREMIERE

The concert, organized in collaboration with the Polish Institute, aims to familiarize the Czech audience with new faces on the powerful jazz scene of Poland – Grzegorz Tarwid being no doubt one of its greatest talents. A piano trio is a conventional jazz format: Tarwid’s ensemble, however, presents an exceptionally creative approach to that format. The music develops slowly and with great calmness, the forms of the compositions are abstract, originating from short melodic motifs. The trio's interaction comes across as organic and free, and at the same time rooted in the rich history of the specifics of Polish jazz (Krzysztof Komeda, Tomasz Stanko). 

Simon Sieger /FR/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ piano, percussion, flutes
Joel Grip /SE/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass, guimbri
Michael Griener /DE/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ drums, percussion


CZECH PREMIERE

Drawing on the sound of the acoustic piano trios from the 50s and 60s, Oùat (Once Upon a Time) sets off to explore the standard form of contemporary songs. Their forms are flexible, open to improvisation, and spread across a wide range of techniques. In terms of aesthetics, Oùat’s music sometimes comes close to expressionism and romanticism in classical music, but at the same time flows through genres and cultural influences from all over the world. Various inspirations feel like dry bricks – carefully stacked on one another to disturb and question the age we're living in. Sounds and tempos intertwine in an unusual mix of recognizable disorder and unrecognizable order.

Hanne Jones Rekdal (NOR) –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ transverse flute, traverso 
Eira Bjørnstad Foss (NOR) –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ violin  
Michaela Antalová (SVK) –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ fujara 
Tove Margrethe Erikstad (NOR) –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ violancello 
Adrian Myhr (NOR) –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass


CZECH PREMIERE

«Sun’s Daughter» – composition for the fujara and ensemble of classical instruments.

Fujara is a bass flute from Slovakia, an instrument played traditionally solo and by men. The composition for fujara, flute, viola, cello, and double bass flows freely through music traditions that are a hundred years old, and chamber and contemporary music. This unique combination of instruments aims to explore new sounds and build bridges between tradition and modernity. This raw, captivating, and deeply emotional work invites the audience into a realm of vast musical narrative that resonates deeply within them.

WORLD PREMIERE

Shape of Jazz to Come vol. 6 continues in the tradition of a residency ensemble of the festival. This year, the group will be formed by a phenomenal performer in both classical and improvised singing, Jana Vondrů, a successful Slovakian drummer living in Norway, Michaela Antalová, a Slovakian guitarist and organ player skilled in improvisation, Štefan Szabó, a unique saxophone and clarinet player, Martin Debřička, and Isabel Rößler, a free-jazz double bass player from Berlin. 

Štěpánka Balcarová— trumpet
Nikola Kołodziejczyk (PL)— piano
Jaromír Honzák — double bass
Grzegorz Masłowski (PL) — drums


Project Emotions by Štěpánka Balcarová, the laureate of the Anděl Prize jazz album of the year 2022, was inspired by the trumpeter's experience of motherhood. Its theme is human emotions. In eight compositions, Štěpánka portrays eight primary human emotions as described by American psychologist Robert Plutchik: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation. This conceptual album, whose repertoire premiered in August 2022, was recorded with Štěpánka’s Czech-Polish quartet, with which she will perform at the festival in Hradec. 

Pavel Hrubý /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ soprano sax, bass clarinet 
Oskar Török /SK/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ trumpet 
Taras Voloshchuk /UA/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass 
Dušan Černák /SK/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ drums 

Limbo is a band spreading across many genres – or perhaps soaring above them. On first impression, the band is classifiable within the jazz and improvised music scene: the instruments and the frequent use of jazz techniques support this classification. Limbo does, nevertheless, surpass those frameworks with elegance and enter spaces outside clear definitions.
Their music is melodious, melancholy, and innovative, as if it lifted the time and space and presented new ways to look at the world to the audience.
The band, which celebrated 20 years of existence in 2024, was nominated for the 2025 Anděl Music Awards in the jazz category. 

Jana Vondrů /CZ/ – vocal, electronics
Žaneta Vítová /CZ/ – accordion, harmonium, vocal 
Michal Grombiřík /CZ/ – dulcimer, vocal 
Tomáš Vtípil /CZ/ – electronics, violin, trumpet, prepared bass guitar, conch shell, percussion

Cimbalom, accordion, and vocals make up the trio ConTRIOlogy, formed in the autumn of 2016 at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts. 
Their new album, Minulo, is inspired by the folk songs that Leoš Janáček collected and put into the cycle called Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs. The trio fuses Moravian folk tunes and their own composition and improvisation, creating a continuous sequence full of timbres and soundscapes coloured with strong emotions.
The individual compositions retain the simplicity and naturalness of folk songs, pervaded by a strong element of improvisation and sonority. Tomáš Vtípil permeates the whole set with his sensitive use of electronics.

Milan Kárník Jakeš /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ violin 
Michal Wróblewski /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ alto saxophone
Martin Hrubec /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ guitar
Tomáš Mika /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ guitar banjo
Ondřej Komárek /CZ/ –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ double bass


Futur Swing’s repertoire is primarily inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). The compositions, which are nowadays almost a hundred years old, are rendered with improvisational freedom, playfulness, and effort to retain the spirit of the old times while moving the traditional gipsy-jazz idiom in new directions. Five different acoustic instruments (guitar, six-string banjo, violin, double bass, saxophone) form a varied and original musical mosaic: Future Swing works with it through arrangements, instrumentation, and improvisation.