Maite Hontelé (and mambo!) at the Gala Concert

jazzahead! goes mambo – and presents the first names for its next edition in 2024. Dutch trumpet star Maite Hontelé and the internationally renowned Dutch youth jazz orchestra NJJO (Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest) – and more guests still to be announced – are booked for the Gala Concert, which will take place on Saturday, 13 April 2024 at 8 pm in the Hansesaal of Congress Centrum Bremen. Cuban mambo will take centre stage at the concert. This eighteenth jazzahead! trade fair and festival will take place on earlier dates than usual, from 11 to 13 April 2024. The 2024 motto is „New Horizons“ and the partner country is the Netherlands.

„We have a clear objective to do things differently next year, and to appeal more to a younger audience“ affirms Sybille Kornitschky, CEO of jazzahead!. She also speaks of an „absolutely danceable highlight“. For the first time, the Gala Concert will not be a fully seated event. Newly appointed Artistic Advisor Götz Bühler adds: „Maite Hontelé is one of the most compelling and best-known trumpet players on the scene today. She manages to appeal wonderfully to young people with her music – which is something that the jazz scene in the Netherlands does brilliantly anyway.“  

The joy and the energy of mambo started in African-influenced Cuba and conquered the world from the 1940s onwards. This special concert sets out to show the fascination, emotive power, relevance and excitement this music can still have today. The evening will also include some surprise guest – to be announced at a later date. „There will be some really good names,“ Bühler promises.

Maite Hontelé (b.1980), one of the most sought-after jazz musicians of her generation, lived in Colombia between 2009 and 2018, but is now back in her native Netherlands. She is also no stranger to Bremen: In 2016, she performed a highly acclaimed showcase concert at jazzahead! as part of the „Overseas Night“ for Colombia. She has toured with her Colombian band several times all around the world. Her album „Déjame Asi“ with singer Oscar D’Léon („The Pharaoh of Salsa“) was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award, as was her 2019 album „Cuba Linda“.

Looking forward to her concert in Bremen, she says: “I am very happy and honored with the invitation to play at jazzahead!’s gala! This time the NJJO (Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest) is a collection of the top Dutch Jazz and Latin talent. We play our vision of the Mambo: an ideal fusion of styles and therefore both a pleasure for the ear and the guarantee for a very danceable, cheerful evening.”

Tickets for the gala concert will be on sale from December. Tickets for this (and later for all jazzahead! events) are available from the advance booking offices or by calling +49 421 – 36 36 36, as well as from Nordwest Ticket via its own webshop. Tickets are also available from the ticket service at the Glocke (+49 421 – 33 66 99), at the Weser-Kurier press centre, at all regional newspaper outlets or online at  jazzahead./en.

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Further information for editorial offices:
MESSE BREMEN/M3B GmbH
Frank Schümann, Tel. +49 421 3505 – 453
E-Mail: presse@messe-bremen.de; schuemann@messe-bremen.de
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