October 22 at 19:00 Ventspils big band and special guests – trumpet player Gerhards Ornigs and vocalist Susanna Aleksandra invite to the first jam of the autumn season in the concert hall “Latvija”.
At the end of the concert, the youth association “7+” will play, performing popular music arrangements for wind ensemble and drums.
Austrian trumpet player, composer, arranger and music teacher Gerhards Ornigs (Gerhard Ornig) grew up in Syria and at the age of 15 went to Graz (Austria), where he studied at the Johann-Joseph Fuch Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Jazz Department of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the prestigious Manhatten School of Music in New York.
During his career, Gerhard Ornig has founded two ensembles – the Gerhard Ornig Trio and the 4Seasons Quartet. He has performed with the Concept Art Orchestra, Ranning Sushi, Sound Pollution, Eclectic, Sina Shaari, etc. In collaboration with the Latvian saxophonist Tomas Rudzinski, he has released the album Locomotion. In 2015, he won the titles of the best trumpet player and the best solo improviser in the competition “Riga Jazz Stage – Competition”.
Susanna Alexandra is a jazz singer, composer and poet of Estonian origin living in Los Angeles. In her passion for languages, she effortlessly plays with words and melodies in traditional, modern and Latin jazz, as well as, thanks to her storytelling skills and charisma, captivates the listener, making jazz accessible and understandable to everyone.
The singer received her bachelor’s degree from the Sibelius Academy in Finland, where she is still studying. During her career, Susanna Alexander has performed with the legendary Igor Butman Quartet, David Goloshokin, Robert Hurst, Peter Bernstein, Chico Pinheiro, Michel Long and many others.
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