22 June - 9 July 2023, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Fringe festival North Sea Round Town (NSRT) is a city-wide festival that continues to develop as an adventurous playground for rising jazz stars and beyond. For two and half weeks, the festival connects artists, makers, audiences and the city of Rotterdam with over 325 concerts on 125 locations varying from (jazz) venues and public squares to churches, (former) swimming pools, art galleries, nursing homes and many more.
Every year, NSRT invites one extraordinary talent as their Artist in Focus (AiF). Starting one year ahead, together with the NSRT team they work on the artist’s trajectory for the coming festival edition. As part of this trajectory, the artist presents their multiple ‘faces’ throughout various projects and collaborations, one of them being their ‘dream project’ – a special production created from scratch to be presented during the festival in an unconventional set-up. After the project’s premiere, NSRT supports the performance to further develop beyond the festival and travel outside Rotterdam’s city limits.
In the spotlight during North Sea Round Town 2023 will be vocalist, cellist, improviser, and composer Sanem Kalfa. Kalfa is a multidimensional musician who skilfully blends jazz, improvisation, and world influences to create an emotional experience of sound. Upcoming summer, she will immerse us into her world with a variety of different projects, refined and brand new alike. Further news regarding Sanem Kalfa’s trajectory for NSRT 2023 can be followed on northsearoundtown.nl.
Previous Artists in Focus were: drummer Sun-Mi Hong (2021), who’s ‘Dance In Four Colours’ was presented in 2022 by BIMHUIS x WhyNot Festival (Amsterdam), and guitarist Teis Semey (AiF 2022) who’s adaptation of ‘Midnight Mess’ was presented at BIMHUIS just a few weeks ago. On top of the AiF-trajectory, the festival curates and commissions other projects, such as George Dumitriu’s trilogy of improvised concerts started in 2019 and continued for another two festival editions (view the 2022-iteration here). On the 15th of October the project will be presented at Enjoy Jazz 2022 in Heidelberg.
Picture by Mehmet Salih Mulayim
