Livestream: Stockholm Women’s International Jazz Festival II

The concerts can been seen at Konserthuset Play

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Stockholm Women’s International Jazz Festival annually presents some of the most important names on the modern jazz scene. For the first time the festival will take place at Konserthuset Stockholm. Creativity, diversity and communication are the three keywords that characterise this year’s program. The festival consists of a daytime conference and two festival evenings with concerts.

Festival schedule 28 May 

16.30 — Anna Lundqvist Quintet (Sweden)

Anna Lundqvist Quintet is based in Gothenburg and their songs are mostly written by Anna Lundqvist herself. Their starting point is to make use of the variety of the Quintet members' personalities, interactions and musicalities. “Every concert has a new charge and challenge. We want to keep all the doors open so that everything becomes meaningful and feels alive, ”she says.

The music is a mix of tradition and innovation where Anna's predilection for the hard bop of the 60's shines through, but the inspiration also comes from rock, folk music and songs and also from baroque music. The focus is always on improvisation, energy and the joy of interaction.

The band has released five albums. The latest, critically acclaimed MEWE, was awarded a nomination in the jazz of the year category at the Manifesto Gala 2018!

17.45 — Susanna Risberg Trio (Sweden)

Award-winning guitarist Susanna Risberg has collaborated with many prominent artists, such as Marit Bergman, Henric de La Cour, Svante Thuresson, Nils Landgren, Miriam Bryant and the Stockholm Blue House Jazz Orchestra, among many others.

In 2015, she received Sveriges Radios Jazzkatten as this year's newcomer with the motivation: “Despite her young age, she is already a shooting star with a huge track record and a safe rock in a variety of contexts. It started with an electric guitar and an idol named Jimi Hendrix. Today she is predicted to become one of Sweden's foremost guitarists. ”

And she has become. "With her surprising and nuanced musicality, she catches our attention," writes the large jazz magazine Downbeat.

“Many of her songs have appealing melody lines and rhythmic patterns that oscillate between the dynamic and the static and the feverish improvisations offer many subtleties. She finds countless variations in her phrases, often in mercury-fast sixteenths while keeping a tight grip on the music's pulse. ” Jazzwisemagazine.com.

19.00 — Josefine Lindstrand Band (Sweden) 

In the spring of 2009, Josefine Lindstrand entered the Swedish music scene. She was named Jazz of the Year in Sweden artist, the album There Will Be Stars was praised by critics and together with her band she toured in Sweden, Europe, USA and China. By then, Josefine Lindstrand had also already appeared on two of the American pianist Uri Cane's albums and started a collaboration with the English pianist and composer Django Bates.

Josefine Lindstrand has toured as a pianist and singer together with artists such as Petra Marklund, Darin, Maia Hirasawa, Veronica Maggio and Jonathan Johansson. She was awarded the Swedish Radio Prize Jazzkatten for Composer of the Year 2016.

She has three solo albums, and a press quote from the latest with Norrbotten Big Band is apt: “She is something of a phenomenon, with her fabulously imaginative songs, stage empathy and fantastically exciting voice.

20.30 — Pianoduo Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann (Iceland/Germany)

Sunna Gunnlaugs and Julia Hülsmann have each individually received great attention around the world. Sunna Gunnlaugs has been praised for her lyrical playing inspired by role models such as Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, but also Nordic piano profiles such as Bobo Stenson and Jon Balke. Her album Mindful was named one of the ten best albums of the year by the Washington Post in 2000.

Julia Hülsmann has long been one of the brightest stars on the German jazz scene. With internationally acclaimed recordings on ECM, such as The End of a Summer, Imprint and In Full View, a large audience has woken up to her unique voice both as a composer and pianist.

This concert is an exclusive opportunity to hear them together in a musical dialogue each on a grand piano.

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The festival is for free, but you may contribute with a donation to Semente on Swish 123 348 09 36 (Sweden only).

The festival evening on 28 May is organized by Semente Cultural Productions with the support of the Embassy of Icaland and Goethe-Institut.

Stockholm Women’s International Jazz Festival is presented in cooperation with Konserthuset Stockholm.

More information is available on the festival’s Facebook page (opens in a new window)