International Jazz Bridge 2022
ICF «International Music Bridge» at the initiative of the founder Oleksii Saranchin and R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music will connect the most gifted musicians from all over the world in a global event.
The event:
- constantly becomes a support and motivation for further creative success of gifted Ukrainian youth;
- integrates Ukraine into world cultural life;
- becomes a bridge that unites people around the world regardless of political considerations.
The competition aims and objectives
- searching and developing the creativity of kids and youth of Ukraine and worldwide;
- promoting the integration of Ukraine into the world art space;
- development and popularization of jazz culture and music through the selection of the best young performing talents of Ukraine and worldwide, and support them at the beginning of their creative development;
- increasing the general level of professional performance among young people;
- creation of conditions for the stage impersonation of abilities and skills, manifestation of individuality and giftedness of children and youth;
- support in the formation of the competitiveness of jazz musicians which fosters development and prepares for professional activities in the future;
- exchange of professional experience in jazz performance in Ukraine and worldwide;
- strengthening of cultural and creative connection between different educational institutions of culture and art.
Jury
Serhii Davydov (Ukraine) – Chairman of the Jury
Davydov Serhii – PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Musical Art of Pop and Jazz, I.Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts.
Winner of the B. Hmyria Municipal Creative Prize and the regional award «People’s Recognition» in the category «Music». Laureate of many international jazz festivals.
Prof. Davydov is teaching the following disciplines: special piano, jazz improvisation, harmony in jazz, the art of accompaniment in jazz.
Davydov is a bright representative of modern Ukrainian jazz art, a constantly performing pianist with solo and ensemble programs. He has had collaborations with such world-famous musicians as Adam Nussbaum, Jed Levy, Chris Dhalgren, Frank Lacy, Joe Ford, Frank Parker, Valery Ponomarev, Bill Mollenhof, Eve Cornelious (USA); George Haslam (UK); Andreas Oberg (Sweden); Karlheinz Miklin, Ewald Oberleinter, Andriy Prozorov (Austria), Mariusz Bogdanowicz, Adam Wendt, Krzysztof Szmanda (Poland), end others. Davydov – co-founder, art director and participant of the international jazz festival «Kharkiv Za Jazz Fest» (2008 – 2012) and founder of jazz concerts in the hall of the Kharkiv Regional Philharmonic since 1998, which since 2006 began to be held monthly under the brand: «Jazz evenings with Serhii Davydov».
Davydov is the author of more than 100 jazz themes of various genres and scales for improvisations. He has stock records in the BZZ studios in Moscow (1992) and Kyiv (1995); as well as six recorded albums with original works: two duets with the famous clarinetist Serhiy Nizkodub – «Clarinet Disassembly», «Seasons» (1997, 1998); one in a duet with the famous double bassist Denis Dudko (1998); three CDs with different combos: «Ukrainian Jazz Tanks» (2006), «The Mozaique Of Eloquence» (2009), «Universe Of Kyzyl Til» (2011), and several albums as a guest studio musician.
Vadim Neselovskyi (USA) – piano
Pianist, composer, jazz citizen of the world, one of the most demanded musicians of the «post-Soviet space» in US.
The youngest student at The Odessa National A. V. Nezhdanova Academy of Music, after which he studied at the Essen Music High School (Folkwang University of the Arts) in Germany.
One of the most successful graduates of Berklee College of Music, Thelonious Monk Institute and the first Ukrainian who became a professor at Berklee College of Music.
In 2010, Neselovsky won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition.
Vadym had worldwide tours with Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Terri Lyne Carrington, and shared the stage with artists such as John Scofield, Terence Blanchard, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Benny Golson, Nicholas Payton, Steve Coleman and others.
Whether as a pianist, composer, improviser, soloist or bandleader, Vadym creates truly inspirational and totally unique music.
Dennis Adu (Ukraine) – trumpet
Dennis Adu is a Professor of Jazz trumpet at the Department of Jazz Music at the R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music.
In 2007, Adu became the winner of «Do#Dj Junior» (the Best Trumpet Player), in 2009 at this competition he became the winner in the nominations «the Best Musician of Ukraine» and «the Best Jazz Standard Arrangement».
Dennis took part in such international festivals and competitions as «Millau en Jazz» (France), «Fel du Sher» (France), «Jazz A Vienne» (Vienne), Leopolis Jazz Fest (Ukraine) and many others.
He played with Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Gregory Porter, Curtis Fuller, Jim Rotondi, Roy and Ofer Assaf, Steve Slagle, Javon Jackson, Larry Willis, Quincy Davis, Dana Hall, Jason Brown, Jimmy Bosch, Mitch Froman, Pete Nater Frankie Vasquez, Wayne Escoffery, Michael Dease, Mambo Legends Orchestra, Seamus Blake, John Hollenbeck and others.
Since 2012, he has been the head of Dennis Adu Big Band, Dennis Adu Quintet, Dennis Adu Sextet, Dennis Adu Septet, as well as the leader and conductor of the big band of R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music.
Artem Mendelenko (Ukraine) – saxophone
One of the best saxophonists in Ukraine. Artem is not just a jazz performer, but a versatile musician who is subject to all musical styles.
Professor of saxophone at the R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music.
Artem Mendelenko’s students became prize-winners of many competitions and winners of the YAMAHA MUSIC GULF SCHOLSHIT 2020 program (Saxophone category).
During his musical career he has participated in more than 50 jazz festivals.
Artem Mendelenko regularly performs and makes records with Ukrainian jazz musicians, and also collaborates with many famous musicians such as De Phazz, Karl Frierson, Eric Marienthal, Lars Daniellson, Magnus Öström, John Parichelli, Gregory Privat, Michael Dease, Andrew Gould, Mitch Frohman , Frankie Vasquez, Wayne Escoffery, Paquito D’Rivera, Diego Urcola, Oscar Stagnaro, Mark Walker, Alex Brown and others.
Currently, his students continue their studies in the USA, Austria, Germany and Poland. He took part in the recordings of over 20 CDs and the soundtrack for Valery Todorovsky’s film «Stilyagi».
Sebastian Noelle (USA) – guitar
Guitarist-composer Sebastian Noelle has spent much of his life traveling the elusive path between two worlds. In life, he travels back and forth between his native Germany and his adopted home of New York City; in his art, he navigates the more fluid boundaries between the abstract and the emotional. Throughout that nomadic existence, music has provided a constant source of shelter, an idea that unifies the wide-ranging music on Noelle’s fourth CD. On ‘System One’, Noelle leads a stellar quartet that brings together some of the most forward-thinking and limitless musicians in modern jazz: pianist Matt Mitchell (Dave Douglas, Tim Berne), bassist Chris Tordini (Chris Speed Trio, Becca Stevens), and drummer Dan Weiss (Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dave Binney). His last album ‘Shelter’, which has been called ‘rewarding’ by the New York Times and hailed for its ’embrace of both lyrical intricacies and rockish swagger’ (Nate Chinen), The compositions on System One spotlight Noelle’s far-reaching interests, bringing together disparate musical influences, inspiration from documentary film and German literature, and his studies of North Indian rhythms. The album’s ten compositions also manage the tricky feat of melding ambitious complexity with emotional communication. His credentials since arriving in New York in 2002 include more than a decade with Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society (appearing on two Grammy-nominated recordings), the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop Orchestra, the Chris Potter Big Band, the Aaron Irwin Quintet, Joe Phillip’s Numinous, The Rob Garcia Quartet and the New York Jazzharmonic, and performances at 55 Bar, Cornelia Street Café, Blue Note, Jazz Gallery, Iridium, Merkin Hall, The Knitting Factory, BAM and the Jazz Standard, and at numerous prestigious jazz festivals such as Newport, North Sea, Montreux and Moers. I have toured extensively in the US, Europe, Canada, Brazil and Japan. He has released four CDs on the European FreshSound-NewTalent label: “Across The River” (2006), featuring Donny McCaslin, Ben Street and Ari Hoenig, “Koan” (2011), with Loren Stillman, George Colligan, Thomson Kneeland and Tony Moreno, “Shelter” (2016) with Marc Mommaas, Matt Clohesy, Matt Mitchell and Dan Weiss and the above mentioned “System One”.
Education: BA in jazz performance and composition (Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim, Germany), Graduate Diploma Jazz Guitar with Distinction in Performance (New England Conservatory, Boston, MA).
Noah Garabedian (USA) – bass
Bass player and composer Noah Garabedian holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from The University of California Los Angeles, and a Master’s of Music Performance from New York University. In 2006 Mr. Garabedian was awarded a John Coltrane National Scholarship, in 2007 was a finalist for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and in 2011 he was selected as a finalist in the ISB Double Bass Competition. In October 2020 he received a commission from the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College to compose a piece inspired by the stories and pictures of survivors of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Mr. Garabedian is also a 2021 artist fellow for Creative Armenia.
In November of 2016, Mr. Garabedian received a Fulbright Specialist Grant to teach jazz music for one month at Silpakorn University, in Bangkok, Thailand. As an educator Mr. Garabedian currently works with the music outreach program at Jazz At Lincoln Center, Jazz For Young People, as well as with the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In the past he has served as adjunct faculty at NYU, part-time faculty at The New School in New York City, and taught with The Weil Institute at Carnegie Hall.
As a composer and bandleader, Mr. Garabedian has released two albums under his own name, as well as one album as a part of a trio collective. As a sideman, he has performed and toured with Ravi Coltrane, Jeff «Tain» Watts, Andy Milne, Ralph Alessi, David Virelles, Nir Felder, and Frank LoCrasto.
Oleg Markov (Ukraine) – drums
Famous Ukrainian drummer and composer.
Started at the R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG) (Austria).
While living in Kyiv, he was a member of the Kiev Big Band and other bands in which he played with such famous musicians as Curtis Fuller, Frank Lacy, James Spaulding, Larry Willis, Gregory Porter, Alex Sipiagin, Essiet Essiet, Don Friedman, etc.
After studying in Kyiv, Oleg moved to Graz, where he obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. While living in Graz, he made many records, won several different competitions and had the chance to perform with such musicians as Stjepko Gut, Jim Rotondi, Dena De Rose, Robert Bargad, Renato Chicco, Don Menza, Luis Bonilla, Kevin Mahogany, Bobby Shew, etc.
Currently, Oleg is a Professor of drum and rhythm at the R.Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy Of Music and continues to perform worldwide.
Tamara Lukasheva (Germany) – vocal
Tamara Lukasheva is an outstanding representative of the young German jazz scene.
With her emotional, technically perfect vocal, she embodies the current free spirit of jazz.
Since 2010 Tamara has been living in Germany, working on numerous musical projects, such as her own quartet, duet with all kinds of musical instruments, programs for orchestras and big bands.
Tamara has more than six released albums, and she is working on a solo record.
She had the tours in such countries as Ukraine, Austria, Albania, Bosnia, Egypt, Italy, China, Mexico, Moldova, Germany, Pakistan, Poland, Switzerland, countries of Central America.
Tamara was announced the winner of the WDR Jazz Prize in the Composition category.
The competition is held by age categories:
Category A (age range from 6 to 10 full years at the time of the competition);
Category B (age range from 11 to 15 full years at the time of the competition);
Category C (age range from 16 to 20 full years at the time of the competition);
Category D (age range from 21 to 25 full years at the time of the competition);
Category E (age range from 26 to 30 full years at the time of the competition);
Nominations:
solo performance: instrumental and vocal;
ensemble: acoustic (duet, trio, etc.), vocal (a capella);
big band: (no more than 30% of illustrators are allowed in the student orchestras);
Additional nominations:
the best original song.
the best arrangement;
Total Prize fund
US $15,000.
Prizes
Grand Prix – Grand Prix Winner Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $1000.
«The Audience Award» – Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
Category A (age range from 6 to 10 full years at the time of the competition);
solo:
І prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $200;
II prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $150;
III prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
ensemble:
duet: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100 (per duet);
ensemble from 3 to 5 people / vocal: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $150 (per ensemble).
Category B (age range from 11 to 15 full years at the time of the competition);
solo:
І prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $250;
II prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $200;
ІII prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $150.
ensemble:
duet: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $150 (per duet);
ensemble from 3 to 5 people / vocal: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $300 (per ensemble).
Additional nominations:
the best original song: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100;
the best arrangement: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
Category C (age range from 16 to 20 full years at the time of the competition);
solo:
І prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $300;
II prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $250;
ІII prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $200.
ensemble:
duet: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $200 (per duet);
ensemble from 3 to 5 people / vocal: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $400 (per ensemble).
Additional nominations:
the best original song: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100;
the best arrangement: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
Category D (age range from 21 to 25 full years at the time of the competition);
solo:
І prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $450;
II prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $350;
ІII prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $250.
ensemble:
duet: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $250 (per duet);
ensemble from 3 to 5 people / vocal: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $500 (per ensemble).
Additional nominations:
the best original song: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100;
the best arrangement: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
Category E (age range from 26 to 30 full years at the time of the competition);
solo:
І prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $600;
II prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $500;
III prize – Laureate Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $400.
ensemble:
duet: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $300 (per duet);
ensemble from 3 to 5 people / vocal: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $600 (per ensemble).
Additional nominations:
the best original song: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100;
the best arrangement: Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $100.
Big bands:
(age range from 10 to 20 years old): Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $ 500 (per orchestra);
(age range from 21 to 30 years old): Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $ 800 (per orchestra).
Special Prizes of the Competition
Prize by Andrey Zdesenko, CEO of Biosphere Corporation and founder of Charisma Fashion Group:
Special award «Courage in Jazz» Diploma and cash prize in the amount of UAH 25000. And also, together with his support, the guitar players will be awarded.
Prize by Andrey Perevertaev, Power Sector Independent Consultant:
Special award «Energy in jazz», Diploma and cash prize in the amount of US $150.
More information can be found at
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