The competition commemorates the work and character of the Polish jazz violin genius Zbigniew Seifert. The jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, who played years ago with Seifert in a band which took European clubs by storm, described Seifert as a Polish national treasure. Seifert collaborated with the likes of Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield and Nana Vasconcelos.
The 1st edition of the International Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Violin Competition has attracted great interest from young instrumentalists from all over the world. This is an unprecedented event as it is the only prestigious competition dedicated solely to jazz violin.
The competition is being held in the year of the 35th anniversary of the artist’s death. Seifert’s musical friends will be present at the event – the excellent double bassist and co-founder of the legendary group Oregon, Glen Moore; drummer Janusz Stefański, who played with Seifert in various bands; and Mark Feldman, one of the most magnificent jazz violinists of today, who admits he is fascinated by Seifert. Tomasz Stańsko has agreed to accept the Honorary Presidency of the Competition Board and he will be joined by Urszula Dudziak, Dave Liebman, Chris Hinze, Paweł Brodowski and Bert Noglik.
In the preliminary stage, 10 violinists: 8 male and 2 female, were selected from among 63 candidates. Jason Anick, Klemens Bittmann, Apel-les Carod Requesens, Bartosz Dworak, Łukasz Górewicz, Roman Janoska, Dawid Lubowicz, Tomoko Omura, Eva Slongo and Stanisław Słowiński were the musicians chosen to compete during open auditions in the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice on the 16th-18th July 2014.
The final ceremony and the gala concert are scheduled for the 19th July 2014 at Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków. Both the auditions and the concert will be broadcast online courtesy of RadioJazz.fm.
Other Polish cities are accompanying the competition with a series of concerts dedicated to the memory of the outstanding violinist. The events will take place at Łódź’s Summer Jazz Academy in July and August.
The organiser of the 1st International Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Violin Competition is the Zbigniew Seifert Foundation. The event is being prepared in cooperation with the Summer Jazz Festival at Piwnica pod Baranami in Kraków.
For further information, visit Seifert Foundation’s website and the competition’s Facebook profile.
source: press materials; ed by km; translated by Kasia Dolato