The power of a united city
The Kongsberg Jazz Festival is approaching, the highlight of the year for folk life and jazz experiences in Kongsberg. The jazz festival should primarily be an arena for music, but just as important is the festival as a meeting place for the city, politics and business.
Kongsberg's residents meet each other and visitors to an extent we do not otherwise see. Together we feel the experience that the city and the festival are for everyone. Although some may not like jazz, we are proud of the festival. At the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Kongsberg shows itself at its very best; inclusive, innovative, playful and suitably chaotic for some days.
Business has also discovered the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. Both through internal meetings and events, and as participants in the concerts. The jazz festival wants to contribute beyond concerts by creating important meeting places for the city's business life precisely when the city is decorated at its best with people and energy. Bebop & Business is the jazz festival's and Kongsberg Næringsforum's collaborative project, where we want to put topics on the agenda that are of importance to
the business world. This is our joint contribution to building a positive reputation for Kongsberg, be it a festival or commercial activity.
When the country's leading jazz festival, the municipality and the business community in the technology city of Kongsberg lift up the community, we all contribute to an even greater degree of understanding, community involvement,
discussions and conversations going forward, which in turn help to develop the entire Kongsberg
the region.
As a collaboration between the festival, the municipal health service, Buskerud county council and Toyota Funnemark, Kongsberg Jazzfestival will continue its commitment to the Gulljazz event. There will be concerts and a real festival atmosphere for the city's nursing home residents with family and friends. There will be concerts on a continuous basis from 12.00–18.00. Residents from nursing homes, day care centers and home-based services in the Kongsberg region are invited.
The program for Kongsbergjazz is very varied and extensive. All the artists presented are spearheads within their genre. Therefore, we also want quality in the productions, so that the experience is enhanced for both the performer and the audience.
The treats stårichø and it is easy to be inspired by some of the fantastic concerts on this year's programme. The world-famous group Take 6's concert in Kongsberg music theater is one of many examples you can read more about in this magazine.
Kongsberg Jazzfestival will appear as a flagship for Norwegian jazz. We are therefore producing several new development projects with Norwegian and foreign artists. Central here is the job of further-
develop Norway's biggest jazz prize. In 2018, the saxophonist and composer Eirik Hegdal received the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's musician prize, which means that he will be heard in three different settings at this summer's festival - two of which are completely new works. If you are going to bring one of them with you, I recommend the commissioned work "Følk", performed in Kongsberg's unique surroundings at the Laagdal Museum!
Kai Gustavsen, festival manager
