ABOUT
Berlin Solo Impro is a festival dedicated to solo improvisation, curated and organized by Volker Meitz on an annual basis since 2018. Casting a spotlight on the soloist form of improvised performance, it highlights the act of personal and spontaneous artistic self-expression in a unique and tangible way. Arguably, it is one of the very few festivals (if not the only one) of its kind worldwide that has been running for a consecutive number of years.
Drawing on a wide range of improvisatory genres ranging from jazz, echtzeitmusik and contemporary music to electronic and experimental styles, Berlin Solo Impro features a balance of Berlin residents, national and international artists coming together each year. The concept is to showcase a wide variety of approaches from traditional playing styles to avantgarde techniques including self-created instruments or musically applied objects. It aims to include long-term solo improvisers next to newcomers in the field, while representing a cross section of different ages and maintaining a gender balance.
Each night kicks off with a talk of all artists involved, where the audience will not only learn about their approaches, personalities or technical setups, but also witness occasional discussions ensuing, offering additional ways of access to their actual performances. Followed by these very solo's, each night has a grand finale where all artists get to play together, juxtaposing solo and collective performances, thus highlighting all its differences and commonalities.
A history of all the festival editions (including extensive audio/video documentation) is available in the Archive section.
Berlin Solo Impro is a festival dedicated to solo improvisation, curated and organized by Volker Meitz on an annual basis since 2018. Casting a spotlight on the soloist form of improvised performance, it highlights the act of personal and spontaneous artistic self-expression in a unique and tangible way. Arguably, it is one of the very few festivals (if not the only one) of its kind worldwide that has been running for a consecutive number of years.
Drawing on a wide range of improvisatory genres ranging from jazz, echtzeitmusik and contemporary music to electronic and experimental styles, Berlin Solo Impro features a balance of Berlin residents, national and international artists coming together each year. The concept is to showcase a wide variety of approaches from traditional playing styles to avantgarde techniques including self-created instruments or musically applied objects. It aims to include long-term solo improvisers next to newcomers in the field, while representing a cross section of different ages and maintaining a gender balance.
Each night kicks off with a talk of all artists involved, where the audience will not only learn about their approaches, personalities or technical setups, but also witness occasional discussions ensuing, offering additional ways of access to their actual performances. Followed by these very solo's, each night has a grand finale where all artists get to play together, juxtaposing solo and collective performances, thus highlighting all its differences and commonalities.
A history of all the festival editions (including extensive audio/video documentation) is available in the Archive section.
Curator and organizer Volker Meitz created the festival in 2018. A musician himself, he has been involved in numerous projects from popular to experimental genres as a keyboard player, producer and engineer since the 1990's. He continues to leave his musical mark with various undertakings both inside and outside the field of improvised music. One of the things about Berlin Solo Impro that Volker particularly enjoys is moderating the artist talks opening each night of the festival.
