The EJN Award 2015 goes to Moers Festival in Germany

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Moers Festival

Bremen, 22/04/2015 - The Europe Jazz Network (EJN) is pleased to announce on the occasion of the jazz trade show “jazzahead!”, which starts tomorrow, the winner of the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming. The 2015 Award goes to Moers Festival in Germany.

Each year EJN, the European association of producers, presenters and supporting organisations who specialise in creative music, contemporary jazz and improvised music, awards a European promoter of jazz music who exemplifies the values of EJN and skilfully succeeds to create visionary and fascinating musical programmes for the audience.

The 2015 Award has been unanimously assigned by an independent jury of jazz professionals and EJN members to Moers Festival, one of the oldest and yet most original jazz Festivals in Europe, for its commitment to always innovate and experiment while remaining faithful to its identity.

Previous winners of the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming were: “Jazz em Agosto” in Lisbon (2014), “Bimhuis” in Amsterdam (2013) and “12 Points Festival” in Dublin (2012).

About Moers Festival

Moers Festival first started in 1972 under the name “International New Jazz Festival Moers”, and it traditionally takes place over Whitsun period each spring. In over 40 years it has become one of the leading festivals of jazz and improvised music, with the mission of proposing each year musicians from all over the world who explore the potentials of music to reflect and speak about our modern times. Starting as a free jazz festival, during the years it opened up to contaminations with different styles of music, from African and Middle-Eastern music to avant-garde experimentation, electronic music and creative pop.

Since 2014, Moers Festival is held at a new venue built specifically for this purpose, creating a permanent landmark in Europe’s musical scene. The new Festival Hall can host up to 2.000 people and has been technically and acoustically designed to sound perfectly both in loud concerts and small acoustic sessions.

The 2015 edition of Moers Festival will take place between the 22nd and 25th of May and is supported by the City of Moers, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as many additional partners and sponsors.

About the Europe Jazz Network

The Europe Jazz Network (EJN) was created in 1987 as a European association. Currently EJN includes 102 organisations (festivals, clubs and concert venues, independent promoters and national organisations) in 31 countries. EJN's mission is to encourage, promote and support the development of creative improvised music within the European scene and to create opportunities for artists, organisers and audiences from all different countries to meet and communicate.

Comment from the Award Jury:

"The EJN Award is for ‘adventurous programming’ and for over forty years the Moers Festival has indeed been one of the most adventurous music events in Europe in the field of improvisation, jazz and related styles. The jury was unanimous in its decision that Moers should receive the 2015 EJN Award.”

Jury members: Ros Rigby, Annamaija Saarela, Huub Van Riel, Filippo Bianchi, Harri Uusitorppa.

Reiner Michalke, Artistic Director of Moers Festival:

“Since I accepted this job ten years ago my main aim has been to combine the glorious history of the festival with permanent innovation in programming. These efforts are paid off by the great response of the public and the media, and now by recognitions such as this Award. It is a great honour for us to receive the EJN Award, the highest recognition a European music festival can receive. And I’m very grateful to the jury, my team and the City of Moers who made this possible.”