News .
CD Release – Aug, 2025!
The album Cause & Effect is published, which is a live recording of the 2023 Jazzaar Festival production titled Funk-Jazz Extravaganza. This is available in audio format on all digital platforms!
Cause & Effect by The Jazzaar Festival Big Band
directed by Fritz K Renold
featuring Ryan Quigley, Tony Lakatos, Mark Whitfield, Ray Angry, James Genus, Gene Lake,
and also Nikola Bankov, Philipp Hayduk, Maurice Storrer, Christian Nguyen & Jacob Sur.
Click here for more info on how to access the album.
The Jazzaar Festival 2024 is on hiatus!
At the board meeting on 7 November 2023, the Jazzaar Association unanimously decided against presenting the Jazzaar Festival next year. Unfortunately, this also means we cannot offer workshops or jam sessions for aspiring young musicians in 2024.
Due to financial constraints, the board has been compelled to take this course of action. Given the current year’s deficit and previous years’ deficits, the association’s financial position has become so untenable that it would have been irresponsible to organize another edition of the Jazzaar Festival in April 2024 without the appropriate sponsorship and donor support.
Nevertheless, the Board of Directors will not rest from its commitment in 2024 but will dedicate time to developing new financing concepts, acquiring new funding sources, and programming Jazzaar 2025. It is and remains the endeavor of all involved to continue the over 30-year tradition of fostering young aspiring musicians in 2025.
We want to thank all our existing partners, supporters, and helpers, and, of course, the youth musicians, for understanding our decision. We are, of course, available for further information.
The Jazzaar Association Committee
Contact for further information:
Thomas H. Henle, President 079/403 20 15
Featured Artists and Sectional Leaders
Lineup 2023 .
More News .
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Nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards
The Jazzaar Festival 2019 live recording of Remembering Bob Freedman with Ron Carter & The Jazzaar Festival Big Band received a Grammy Award nomination under the category of 'Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album".
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Reto Peter
Reto Peter was a drummer of the first iteration of Jazzaar (then called The Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra), and through a connection to Fritz Renold he went on to go to Berklee College of Music to study Music Production & Engineering. Since then, he has been making records in Europe, NYC, and the San Francisco Bay Area and is credited on Gold and Platinum albums by Green Day, Modest Mouse, The Counting Crows, Flipsyde, and many chart-topping artists from his native Switzerland.
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Phil Hilfiker
Phil Hilfiker, a saxophonist / composer & arranger / music educator is another of our alumni that we're most proud of. His talent, wit and hard work did not fail to earn him the well deserved success he enjoys as a musician. Besides that his humility and gratitude is something we also admire about him.
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Mathias Kunzli – Drummer / Percussionist
Drummer/percussionist Mathias Kunzli is one of the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra's earlier generations of young musicians that is successful in the international music scene. We're proud to feature him in this segment and wish him continued success that is well deserved.
