Sydney Con Jazz Festival 2022

The Sydney Con Jazz Festival 2022 features trail-blazing jazz artists from the US and Europe alongside the crème of Australian jazz.

Headlining the festival Gala is Trio Grande 2.0, featuring multi-Grammy award winning jazz drummer Eric Harland (USA), plus saxophonist Will Vinson (UK) and guitarist Gilad Hekselman (Israel). Aria Award winning pianist Barney McAll will open the gala with a dazzling solo performance. One of the world’s most prolific & talented jazz composers, Florian Ross (Cologne, Germany) will present beautiful, melodic big band compositions in ‘Architexture’ accompanied by Will Vinson on saxophone, Hannah James on bass, Jamie Cameron on drums and 7-piece wind ensemble.

The fifth Sydney Con Jazz Festival (SCJF) will take place at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music, nestled amongst the picturesque Royal Botanic Gardens. Leading jazz artists from the US, Europe, and Australia (over 100 artists) will perform in over 24 concerts. The SCJF 2022 is a collaboration between Sydney Conservatorium’s Jazz unit, the Conservatorium Open Academy, and the Sydney Improvised Music Association. Multi-show discounts of up to 30% are available

Melbourne artists: saxophonist Julien Wilson and his quartet, vocalist and composer Gian Slater with Barney McAll, Simon Barker (drums) and the Sydney Con Jazz Choir directed by Naomi Crellin, emerging female quartet AURA , pianist Andrea  Keller, Helen Svobada, Niran Dasika,  the Ben Devries Trio and winner of the 2021 APRA Arts Music Award for Best Jazz Work, Vanessa Perica will conduct the National Youth Big Band which features Australia’s leading young musicians from across the nation.

Acoustic program: experimental folk duo Meatshell, the Chris Cody Quartet the Emma Stephenson Quartet, Visions of Nar featuring Zela Margossian, Jeremy Rose, Hilary Geddes, and Adam Yilmaz, Steve Barry’s Blueprints Trio uniting for the first time since 2019, K2 featuring Matt Keegan & Chloe Kim.

The Festival’s mission includes providing opportunities for emerging artists to work with established artists in the CONVerge series. CONVerge concerts for 2022 include Florian Ross leading Converge with The Conservatorium Jazz Orchestra, directed by David Theak and Vanessa Perica conducting leading interstate and local musicians from the ANJO Youth Big Band. Mingus Amongst Us will re-awaken Charles Mingus with an Australian twist.  James Valentine (ABC Jazz and 702) will moderate a panel discussion of distinguished festival artists. The talk will give insights into how leading musicians approach their art form, what inspires them and how the world of jazz continues to change today.

At the Jazz Cafe: New Zealand supergroup GRG67 featuring leading jazz saxophonist Roger Manins, guitarist Michael Howellon, Mostyn Cole on bass and Tristan Deck on drums, Julien Wilson’s STOCK, Delay 45 and Tourismo.

The Pocket Trio will perform free to festival attendees in The Atrium.

Full program: sydneyconjazzfestival.com