Amersfoort Jazz presents two-day Laureates Festival in the Observant
On October 22 and 23, the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival will present its Laureates Festival with Dutch jazz. On Friday 22 October, the winners of the Dutch Jazz Competition will be the Aviv Noam Quartet and the Tijs Klaassen Quintet. The competition could not continue in 2020 but was ‘overtaken’ in 2021. Part of the prize was a concert at the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival.

The Dutch Jazz Competition is an initiative of, among others, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Ntb, Conamus (now BumaCulture) and the NTR. The Dutch Jazz Competition is made possible thanks to main sponsor Sena Performers, the support of the Hendrik Muller Fund and the Kunstenbond/Ntb.

On Saturday 23 October, the jazz guitar will be the focus. Laureates Olivier van Niekerk and Gijs Idema each play with their own formation. Olivier was winner of the Princess Christina Jazz Competition. Gijs won the Conservatory Talent Award in 2020. The Princess Christina Jazz Competition is intended for young talents who are still in secondary school, where the Conservatorium Talent Award is intended for studying musicians. Both Olivier and Gijs have now graduated and are making good progress.

The Sena Performers Jazz International Laureate Festival has been a regular feature of the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival for five years now. This year it has been decided to organize a physical edition with Dutch laureates, while international laureates are presented online. Both initiatives are supported by Sena Performers.

The concerts take place in the Observant, which has been the ‘Home of Jazz’ during the festival for more than 15 years. There are two concerts every evening. The first concert starts at 8.30 pm and the second concert starts at 10 pm.