Jazzfest Berlin Opens Its 63rd Edition With a World Premiere by the Anthony Braxton Septet

Jazzfest Berlin opens its 63rd edition on Thursday, Oct. 29, and its first night is built around a premiere. According to the Berliner Festspiele, which presents the festival, the Anthony Braxton Septet gives its world premiere at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, introducing what the program calls "a new ensemble, a book of compositions, and a new organisational system."

The septet pairs four saxophones with three tubas. Braxton is joined by his longtime colleague James Fei and two first-time collaborators, Berlin alto saxophonist Silke Eberhard and New York-based Canadian tenor saxophonist Anna Webber. The tuba section is made up of Matthew Bookert, Berlinde Deman and Fanny Méteier. The festival recalls that Braxton presented his Sonic Genome with more than 60 musicians at the Gropius Bau during the 2019 edition.

The opening evening starts at 18:00 Berlin time with EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO, the project of Brazilian drummer, singer and composer Mariá Portugal with percussionists Burkhard Beins and Emilio Gordoa. It is followed by a screening of DREAM BABY DREAM, a 21-minute experimental film made with 60 Berlin-based participants during the 2025 festival, which also gives this year's edition its motto. After Braxton's set, British pianist Alexander Hawkins closes the night with the European premiere of Willow Music, which the festival describes as his first large-ensemble project. Its 11-piece lineup includes Chelsea Carmichael, Tom Challenger, Nick Dunston and Stephen Davis.

The festival runs through Nov. 1 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and the nearby venues A-Trane, Quasimodo and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Groove magazine, reporting on the full program announcement, put the total at more than 130 artists from more than 25 countries, curated by artistic director Nadin Deventer. The program includes a Community Week with neighborhood concerts in Moabit and a creative music workshop led by Braxton for students of the Jazz Institut Berlin.

The final night, Nov. 1, celebrates 60 years of the Globe Unity Orchestra. The festival notes that pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach founded the group in 1966 at the request of Joachim-Ernst Berendt, the first artistic director of what was then called the Berliner Jazztage. The anniversary lineup includes saxophonist Evan Parker, drummer Paul Lytton and George Lewis, who will make a rare appearance on trombone. For the first time in the band's history, Schlippenbach will share the piano with Aki Takase in a four-hands piece. The same evening features the German premiere of the trio of pianist Georg Graewe, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Hamid Drake, as well as singer ganavya.

Exhibitions on Braxton's scores and on Globe Unity's 60 years are open during the festival with free admission.