Copenhagen Jazz Festival Announces Headline Acts

Legendary sax player Wayne Shorter (US), sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar (IN), and afrobeat inventor Tony Allen (NG) will all be playing at this summer’s Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Also, three new festival posters have been revealed.

The poster has been an important part of Copenhagen Jazz Festival since 1980. Every year a new artist is commissioned to design the poster. A tradition that throughout the years has resulted in very varied expressions.

“This year’s festival posters are done by graphic designer Leo Scherfig and consist of three improvisational snapshots,” says festival director Signe Lopdrup, “As such, the motive transcends the poster as a single piece of art and illustrates a new visual dimension that will meet people at this year’s festival. The idea is to add an improvisational visual dimension to selected shows during the festival in the form of vj sets, lights and video artists that will interact with – and hopefully reinforce – the musical improvisation that is essential to jazz and makes up the festival’s beating heart.”

3 continents – 3 very different musical visions
The first batch of names for the festivals spans no less than three continents as well as three very different musical visions. 78 year old American Wayne Shorter – widely considered to be one of the most significant saxophonists in jazz history – will be playing at The Royal Theater. Indian sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar will play at the beautiful Koncerthuset, and Nigerian afrobeat icon Tony Allen will set the dancefloor grooving at Store Vega. Tickets for Wayne Shorter and Anoushka Shankar are already on sale, while tickets for Tony Allen will be available for sale on April 11.

With the unveiling of the new visual theme and the three headliners, this summer’s festival is well on its way. Like previous years the festival will overflow the city with major concert hall events, packed club experiences and a host of outdoor delights – many of them free. Likewise, visitors will once more be meet with special themes like the much loved Something Else, Jazz for Kids, Classic Jazz Tributes and Jazz by the Sea. The major concerts will be held at The Royal Theater, Koncerthuset in Ørestad and for the first time in many years Store Vega. All in all it looks like the festival once again will top previous achievements regarding the number of concerts and venues. The support from venues, cafes and organizers this year has been massive and visitors can look forward to an increased activity in the areas of town just outside city.

Copenhagen Jazz Festival takes place July 6 to July 15. For general information about the festival, look further down. The posters are available for download in high resolution at www.jazz.dk. The full festival programme will be announced during the next couple of months.

Press photos for download (high resolution):

→ Wayne Shorter PR (JPG)
→ Anoushka Shankar PR (JPG)
→ Tony Allen PR (JPG)
→ All festival posters (ZIP)

Wayne Shorter Quartet (US)
→ The Royal Theater, Gamle Scene, July 10, 8.00 PM

Tickets on sale at www.jazz.dk

Anoushka Shankar (IN)
→ Koncerthuset, Koncertsalen, July 8, 8.00 PM

Tickets on sale at www.jazz.dk

Tony Allen presents BLACK SERIES – from Detroit to Lagos (NG)
→ Store Vega, date tba

Tickets available for sale April 11

Facts about Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2012
- Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2012 takes places between July 6-15 – both days included
- The festival features around 1,000 concerts at around 100 venues
- The concerts takes place at clubs, cafes, bars, concert halls and open-air stages in the city’s parks and squares and along the harbour front
- Besides the concerts acquiring entry fees the festival features a great number of free concerts
- Pre-sale spots can be found at www.jazz.dk. In addition, most venues will offer tickets at the door
- The festival engages more than 200 volunteers
- The festival has existed in its present form since 1979

Programme
- The printed programme is released in May and is available for purchase at local supermarket Irma, local libraries, cafes, DSB-stores and at all venues
- The complete programme is also available for download as a free application for iPhone and Android. The application features a full festival schedule, daily news and a GPS

Visitors
- During the course of the 10 days 250,000 people will visit the festival
- The visitors are divided evenly among the age groups 0-35 years, 36-55 years and 56 years or older
- Nine out of teen visitors are Danish. The foreign visitors are primarily Swedish, Norwegian, German, British and American 
- Copenhagen Jazz Festival generates approximately 80 mill. Danish kroner for the city of Copenhagen (Source: Wonderful Copenhagen, Nov. 2011)

Press photos for download
→ August Rosenbaum, Kunstforeningen Gl. Strand (Foto: Jonas Pryner)
→ View, DGI-byen Red Roof (Foto: Kristoffer Juel Poulsen)
→ The Pyramids, Vor Frue Plads (Kristoffer Juel Poulsen)
→ Jazz For Kids, Østre Anlæg (Foto: Kristoffer Juel Poulsen)

For more information
Signe Lopdrup, Festival Director: signe@jazz.dk, +45 33932013
Simon Christensen, Head of Communications: simon@jazz.dk, +45 6177 8335
Website: www.jazz.dk // Press room: www.jazzroom.dk

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