5th Women in Jazz

Opera Halle

The WOMEN IN JAZZ festival is a festival for contemporary jazz. The special aim of the festival is to present jazz projects whose artistic direction is the responsibility of a female jazz musician. The festival has role models in the USA. It is unique in Europe with this special focus. In addition to its uniqueness in the European cultural scene, the festival is also an important contribution to gender equality in culture and art.

The first festival took place in 2006. The festival has embraced and helped shape the rapid development of women’s jazz. It was only after the turn of the millennium that female musicians began to conquer the international jazz scene. Today, they play a decisive role in shaping this musical style, whether with inimitable voices in vocal jazz or interesting musical impressions in instrumental jazz. In recent years, the festival has succeeded in inviting outstanding representatives of jazz from all continents to the stages of the city on the Saale.

The festival was already recognized as a Landmark in the Land of Ideas in 2012. In 2015, the festival project EURASIEN UNITY (Artistic Director: Caroline Thon) received the WELTMUSIKPREIS RUTH. The festival’s special commitment to women’s jazz was recognized as an example of best practice at the digital conference on gender equality in culture & media in Europe as part of the EU Council Presidency (hosted by the German Cultural Council) in December 2020.

In Central Germany, the “Women in Jazz” festival has become a cultural highlight in the field of contemporary music. The threshold of 100,000 festival visitors in total was already exceeded in 2019. Interestingly, the special festival theme has also changed the usual visitor structure for a jazz festival. The WOMEN IN JAZZ Festival has also opened up the topic of jazz to women More than 50% of visitors to the festival are women.

Title: | Patronage(s): Prof. Dr. Brigitta Wolf, Minister for Science and Economics of the State of Saxony-Anhalt |