US-Tour May 2024: NDR Bigband feat. Kinan Azmeh

Music beyond cultural divide: Together with the Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, the NDR Bigband is going on tour through the USA in May 2024.

VIDEO: (1 Min)

Tour dates:

Wednesday, May 8 2024 at 6 pm
New York City, DROM - 85 Avenue A New York
Friday, May 10 2024 at 8 pm
Philadelphia, Penn Live Arts - 3680 Walnut Street
Monday, May 13 2024 at 8 pm
Chicago, Edlis Neeson Theater, Museum of Contemporary Art
Tuesday, May 14 2024 at 6 pm
Chicago, Andy's Jazzclub - 11E Hubard Street

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Klarinettist Kinan Azmeh im Profil. © Liudmila Jeremies Foto: Liudmila Jeremies

May 8 - New York: Kinan Azmeh & NDR Bigband with "Flow"

Together with clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, the NDR Bigband is going on tour through the USA (in german). mehr

Kinan Azmeh spielt Klarinette, im Hintergund unscharf: Dirigent Wolf Kerschek. © NDR/Liudmila Jeremies Foto: Liudmila Jeremies

May 10 - Philadelphia: Kinan Azmeh & NDR Bigband with "Flow"

Sheer luck: The NDR Bigband and the Syrian clarinetist build a musical bridge between cultures (in german). mehr

Die NDR Bigband im Konzert mit Kinan Azmeh und Aynur in der Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. © NDR/Liudmila Jeremies Foto: Liudmila Jeremies

May 13 - Chicago: Kinan Azmeh & NDR Bigband with "Flow"

Music beyond cultural divides: The NDR Bigband will play the tour finale together with the Syrian clarinetist in Chicago (in german). mehr

Die NDR Bigband spielt mit örtlichen Musikerinnen und Musikern eine Jam Session in Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago. © NDR Foto: Screenshot

May 14 - Chicago: Hamburg-Chicago-Session

At the end of their tour through the USA, members of the NDR Bigband join Jon Irabagon, Tim Hagans and Bobby Broom at a jam session. mehr

Syrian-born and New York-based clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the NDR Bigband have been linked for a long time, and after several joint productions they released the album "Flow" in autumn 2021. The album presents Kinan's music in fantastic arrangements by Wolf Kerschek, played by the NDR Bigband. "For me, the NDR Bigband is not just a jazz ensemble. I see it as a great, flexible collective of composers, arrangers, instrumentalists and people," describes Azmeh.

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Die NDR Bigband spielt bei einer Jam Session in Andy's Jazzclub © NDR Foto: Sabine Vinar

NDR Bigband going USA: Einblicke in die Konzertreise

Von New York City nach Philadelphia und Chicago - die NDR Bigband und Klarinettist Kinan Azmeh auf Tour in den USA. mehr

Kinan Azmeh - from Damascus to New York

Kinan Azmeh was born in Damascus in June 1976 and grew up in Syria, where Arabic and Levantine sounds were unmistakably in the air. But early on, he pursued a straightforward education in Western "classical" music and made a point of not being tied down as a musician to his geographical origins. After studying electrical engineering in Damascus alongside music, he graduated from the Juilliard School in New York (where Miles Davis had studied decades earlier) and remained true to his profession: music. Without confinement.

"I was the Damascene in New York and the New Yorker in Damascus. I am now more interested in being the New Yorker in New York and the Damascene in Damascus... Both cities with all their contrasting qualities are intellectually stimulating to me. Places, people, nature, tragedies and celebrations, all of these elements have found their way into the music I create. Being in a constant state of FLOW is now my new zone of comfort." Kinan Azmeh

As a soloist, Kinan Azmeh has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and Syrian Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He played with musical celebrities such as Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Marcel Khalife, John McLaughlin, Francois Rabbath, Aynur and Jivan Gasparian ...

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CD-Cover: Kinan Azmeh & NDR Bigband - Flow

NDR Bigband & Kinan Azmeh: CD "Flow"

The outstanding clarinettist and composer Kinan Azmeh has released an album with the NDR Bigband. (german) mehr

NDR Bigband - jazz ensemble composed of premier soloists

Ensemble-Foto der NDR Bigband 2022 © Yvonne Schmedemann Foto: Yvonne Schmedemann
Strong personalities form the NDR Bigband`s unique sound.

Unique among Germany’s radio big bands, the NDR Bigband is a jazz ensemble composed of premier soloists of diverse backgrounds and influences whose collective endeavors coalesce to produce an original and striking group sound for a large ensemble. The NDR Bigband lives on its strong personalities. Each musician has his own individual style and his own musical language. But there is one thing on which they all agree: what counts is the sound, the groove, the melody – the music.

1.400 concerts, numerous invitations to festivals in Germany and abroad and more than 80 record releases tell their own story. With around 25 programmes every year, each musician is required to adjust to new challenges again in a short time, with fresh ears. As a public law ensemble, the NDR Bigband sees itself as a culture medium.

Tours with artists like Al Jarreau, Randy Brecker, Omar Sosa, Maria Schneider, Bobby McFerrin, Chet Baker and many other artists not only from the world of jazz take the NDR Bigband not only to Europe but also to the other continents of the world.

Press Review

Seth Colter Walls, "New York Times"

"[...] Azmeh’s impressive 2021 album 'Flow', recorded with the NDR Bigband from Germany [...] is another example of the capacious mutability of American energies — with Ellingtonian orchestration fusing with melodic modes from the Middle East."

Contact: bigband@ndr.de

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Das Logo von Youtube © NDR

NDR Bigband on YouTube

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Facebook - Logo vor einem, weltumspannenden, abstrahiertem Netzwerk (Montage) © fotolia.com Foto: Kobes

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VIDEO: "The Canteen": NDR Bigband feat. Kinan Azmeh 2019 (11 Min)

Ensembles & Konzertreihen