Teamwork acts as a basic constant

Sometimes leading the way, then following, sometimes confidently taking space in improvisation, then again performing and interpreting, sometimes being leader, sometimes side(wo)man - these are poles between which jazz musicians operate quite naturally. In the case of Hendrika Entzian and Rainer Tempel, this equation with several variables is joined by a constant: the preoccupation with large instrumentation and the possibilities offered by the big band format in the 21st century.

Hendrika Entzian

Hendrika Entzian, a native of Kiel, studied jazz double bass at the conservatories of Hamburg and Cologne, then focused on the field of composition and completed a master's degree in jazz arranging and composition, also in Cologne. After two releases by her quartet (2015 "Turnus", 2018 "Pivot", nominated for the ECHO Jazz), she founded her own jazz orchestra (Hendrika Entzian+), whose debut CD "Marble" was released in 2020. Composition commissions for prestigious jazz orchestras such as the WDR Big Band, the Dutch Metropole Orkest or the Cologne Subway Jazz Orchestra followed. in 2018, she received the WDR Jazz Prize in the composition category. At the Cologne University of Music and Dance she teaches as a guest professor in the jazz courses music theory as well as arrangement and composition. Together with Jörn Marcussen-Wulff she conducts the Landesjugendjazzorchester Hamburg.

Rainer Tempel

Rainer Tempel has remained loyal to his hometown of Tübingen to this day, yet has traveled the world extensively. The jazz pianist has been composing for large and small ensembles for over 25 years. His own big band, founded during his studies at the Nuremberg University of Music, debuted in 1996 and was the starting point for his later activities as a bandleader, composer and arranger. Tempels oeuvre includes - besides more than 250 pieces for bigband - several chamber music works and compositions for medium-sized ensembles, but also two song cycles, works for symphony orchestra and stage music. This work is documented on more than 20 recordings as a bandleader. He was professor of jazz composition and big band at the Lucerne University of Music from 2001 to 2010, and has been so since 2007 at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, where he has also headed the Institute for Jazz since 2014. Tempel was musical director of the Zürich Jazz Orchestra (2006-2012) as well as the Jugendjazzorchester Baden-Württemberg (2013-2022).

Does Hanseatic straightforwardness meet Swabian understatement here? Perhaps, but instead of too sweeping an attribution, rather for reassurance: because a cooperative study program can also be understood as an equation with variables. And the properties mentioned can be the constant for an elegant solution. Welcome, Hendrika Entzian and Rainer Tempel!

The MA Bigband is supported by: Ernst Max von Grunelius-Stiftung, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt, Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen (WIBank), Verein der Freunde und Förderer der hr Bigband e.V.