If you want to book tickets for anything during Harmonic, please call the MAC on 0121 446 3232 or visit their website:
http://www.macarts.co.uk/events/Performances/Harmonic%20Jazz%20Festival

You can see full details of the events taking place on our programme page as well as on the MAC website.Each event has an individual ticket price, but there are 25 day passes available at £40 (£30 Concessions) for Friday and Saturday. These will allow you to get into all the ticketed events for that day. Hurry up if you want one of those as they won’t be around forever!

As ever, you can get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments:
info@harmonicfestival.co.uk
www.facebook.com/harmonicfest
twitter.com/harmonicfest
Or via our Contact page

The Ensemble meet on the first Sunday of each month from 1pm until 4pm with the next rehearsal on 3rd July, so come down, hang out, have a coffee and check out some new music in the making.

more info at www.cobwebcollective.com

Thursday 29th September

Harmonic launch party – The Yardbird

Husk

If this is anything like last year’s launch party or our programme launch last month this will be a very special night at The Yardbird. So far we have confirmed Sam Wooster’s Husk. Sam will be putting together a special performance for the festival with his heavy metal-inspired band Husk. Husk are an awesome band. You can check them out at our programme launch party here.

Friday 30th September

Norwegian trumpet player Arve Henriksen makes a long awaited return to Birmingham, and for the first time with Birmingham-based duo Dreams of Tall Buildings. Although they have made an album together, the trio have never performed together live. The music is hauntingly beautiful, and the blend between Arve’s rich trumpet sound and the soundscapes created by DOTB is breathtaking. DOTB site-specific approach to making music led them to perform at the closing of MAC before its refurbishment where their music was made up of recordings taken around the building.

http://www.arvehenriksen.no/
http://www.dreamsoftallbuildings.com/

We have also teamed up with Birmingham City University to deliver the second instalment of their Jazz And The Media conference. Following on from the very successful inaugural concert in 2010, this years focus will be on jazz musicians use of online media as well as on jazz collectives.

As a part of the day we will be presenting three sest from three different UK based collectives. Representing Cobweb Collective from Birmingham will be Lluis Mather’s band Noose. Lluis’s thoughtful and intelligent tenor sax playing is reflected in his composition through this fascinating quartet of sax, vocals, piano and drums. From London’s Loop Collective we have Splice. Splice recently performed for the first time at the Loop festival which was broadcast on Jazz On 3. The band explores electro-acoustic improvisation and features Robin Fincker on sax, Alex Bonney on trumpet, Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay on bass and Dave Smith on drums. Finally from Manchester’s Efpi Collective we have The 265 Quartet. Efpi are really making a name for themselves, especially with the Beats & Pieces Big Band. This quartet is somewhat gentler but nevertheless intriguing.

Saturday 1st October

The third day of Hamonic will be the longest of the festival running from around midday until 11pm. We’ll be making full use of the MAC’s fantastic spaces by using as much of it as possible. In the main theatre we are very pleased to present Food. Iain Ballamy and Thomas Stronen will be joined by some very special guest musicians from Birmingham and further afield. This concert is a jointly presented by Birmingham Jazz. Festvial Director Percy Pursglove will be giving his new project Enchanted Heart with guest Hans Koller a debut airing at the festival. Percy’s ability as a trumpet player is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Here he will be flexing his compositional muscles with collaborator and friend, Hans Koller.

http://www.ballamy.com/

Mike Hurley will be curating a day of free music in the Hexagon Theatre with a food theme. Tasting Notes will feature some of Mike’s regular guests and collaborators from the Fizzle free improv nights as well as some very special guests.

Harmonic will also be presenting some music in the Foyer of the MAC throughout the day. Bands from Cobweb Collective will be providing free entertainment throughout the day with Greyish Quartet, Jonathan Silk Quartet and new band Elda all confirmed so far.

Directions in Music will be a marathon performance from pianist/composer Steve Tromans stretching across the course of the entire day, Steve’s focus will be on performing the uncapturable by performing for at least 11 hours solidly. This will be a truly one-off event.

Sunday 2nd October

MAC, Cannon Hill Park

We’ll have some exciting activity on Sunday afternoon at the MAC on the final day of Harmonic 2011. We’re still finalising the plans for this day, but don’t worry, Harmonic’s creativity, music and atmosphere will all be present!

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be announcing the artists we have confirmed for Harmonic 2011 so far as well as giving away a pair of tickets for the festival. The guys who are playing are doing so to raise money for this year’s festival so do please come down and support. It’s free entry and we’ll kick off around 9pm

We hope you like what you see and hear, and if you have any photos, recordings or videos of your own, get in touch.

Speaking of the Media page, you’ll find recordings from the festival appearing there in the next few weeks. We’ll let you know when the page gets updated if you sign up to our mailing list via the Contact page. You also find lovely reviews of both Friday and Saturday nights over on the Jazz Mann’s website as well as on Peter Bacon’s Jazz Breakfast website.

Enjoy!

Soweto Kinch on Giant Steps

You can follow the festival in many ways. We have a Facebook page
We’re on Twitter: http://twitter.com/harmonicfest
And we’ll be uploading snapshots to Flickr

http://hollandforaweek.com

A unique insight into the preparations for Wednesday’s Conservatoire students gig presented by Dave Holland. Well worth checking out. You can also follow them on Twitter @hollandforaweek