Jazz Festival 2026 – Two days of live music

The Jazz Festival is a central component of the “Werkstatt Linear” course in the third semester of the bachelor’s program in Sound, Music, and Production. Under the guidance of an interdisciplinary team of faculty members, the students organize and produce the event largely on their own. They were supported in this effort by student volunteers from other semesters.

The tasks extend far beyond staging a traditional concert. In addition to artist support, event organization, and technical planning, the students are responsible for the entire audio production: miking the instruments, providing sound reinforcement for the auditorium, live mixing, multitrack recording, and mixing for the livestream.

At the same time, a full-scale live television show is produced, featuring multiple cameras, camera direction, production management, editing, hosting, lighting design, and a standalone broadcast audio mix.

A particular challenge here is the coordination of all the various disciplines. Camera, sound, lighting, directing, and production must not only collaborate creatively but also be perfectly synchronized from a technical standpoint. Professional mixing consoles, camera systems, intercom technology, and complex IP-based media networks form the infrastructure for this, which is planned, set up, and operated by the students themselves.

Musically, the 2026 Jazzfest offered a diverse program. On the first evening, young, up-and-coming artists took the stage, including the Aisling Hayes Quartet, MIKIO, and the Finn Heine Discovery Project.

The second evening of concerts featured Caro Trischler, Jürgen Schwab meets Tommy Halferty, and the Ali Neander Organ Quartet. Both evenings were not only presented live to an audience in the auditorium but also streamed simultaneously on YouTube as a full-scale television production.

This meant that the students had to produce two different productions simultaneously: a high-quality concert experience for the live audience and a standalone audiovisual production for viewers watching the livestream.

What makes the Jazzfest special is the high degree of personal responsibility. As early as their third semester, students take on tasks that are typically carried out by specialized professionals in professional productions. They develop technical concepts, assign responsibilities, coordinate workflows, and must make decisions under time pressure during the live event.

It’s not just about technical expertise or musical intuition. Communication, teamwork, organization, and the ability to work together to find solutions in unforeseen situations are just as important.

The Jazz Festival exemplifies the hands-on approach of the SMP program: it’s not just about learning about professional media production, but about planning, designing, and executing it yourself.

The result is two evenings of concerts and two full-length live television shows—and, above all, the experience of having worked together to oversee a complex production from the initial idea to the final product.

The concert recordings are available on YouTube and offer a glimpse into the musical and technical achievements of the Linear Workshop.