The upcoming SAXGO23 festival, which also includes the Saxophone Summer School, will take place at various venues in Nova Gorica between 26 June and 2 July 2023. As many as 7 concerts will take place during this period and offer to their visitors the tradition which is characterized for intertwining the two styles of music – jazz and classical music. The artistic directors of the festival, Jan Gričar for classical saxophone, and Boštjan Simon for jazz saxophone and improvisation, have presented this year’s programme and the performing musicians.

Nova Gorica will host three concerts by saxophone giants as a part of the jazz section of the SAXGO23 festival programme. These saxophone musicians come from different generations, nationalities and stylistic orientations, but they are united by an unwavering commitment to their own vision of music and a distinctive, unique sound.

Igor Lumpert moved to New York from Novo mesto, Slovenia, more than two decades ago, and there he has forged important musical ties and developed his artistic style in the whirlwind of the jazz metropolis. The signature work of his ensemble Innertextures has been repeatedly praised by critics and jazz audiences alike. At SAXGO23 he will appear as a lecturer at the jazz saxophone workshop and as a soloist performing with the local Big Band Nova.

As part of the GO-EAST focus, we are again looking to the jazz excellence to the east of us, and this year we will be hosting the renowned SCHIME quartet of Serbian alto saxophonist Luka Ignjatović, professor of jazz saxophone at the Belgrade Academy of Music. The quartet has performed at major festivals in Europe, even twice at the Moers Jazz Festival in Germany, and received good reviews.

We are especially looking forward to welcoming the great American saxophonist Mark Turner and his quartet to the SAXGO23 event. Turner’s playing is impressionistic, airy, sometimes stratospheric. He has influenced a whole generation of young saxophonists and has been awarded several prizes for his artistic work. His quartet has released several albums on the renowned ECM label and will present its latest in Nova Gorica.

BOŠTJAN SIMON – umetniški vodja za JAZZ & IMPROVIZACIJO

Boštjan Simon se je po zaključenem šolanju na Konservatoriju v Amsterdamu vrnil v Slovenijo in soustvaril številne zasedbe z mednarodnim dometom. Z zasedbami Trus!, Velkro in Litošt je govorico improvizacije predstavil na odrih, ki le-te niso bili navajeni. Trenutno vodi skupino  There Be Monsters, s katero nastopa po Sloveniji in okolici, poleg tega pa je občasno aktiven še v naslednjih sestavih: TEJO – Trieste Early Jazz Orchestra, Big band RTV Slovenija,  Milan Stanisavlević kvintet,  Robert Jukič kvartet, Boštjan Simon Quintet, Quartzite Quartet in Big band Nova. Osredotoča se na saksofonsko improvizacijo v povezavi z živo elektroniko ter na poliritmične prijeme pri kompoziciji, kar lahko preverimo v zadnjem Boštjanovem audio-vizualnem projektu Etceteral z Marekom Fakučem in Lino Rica.