I’m glad to announce that I was selected s part of the project EUROPEAN COMPOSERS promoted by Subway Jazz Orchestra of Cologne.
The big band selected five young composers from all over Europe who have composed new works especially for Subway Jazz Orchestra and will be giving their world premieres on the 8th of december.
This was preceded by a Europe-wide call by the SJO for composers up to 35 years of age. From the 54 applications received, the collective selected five candidates who were awarded a commission to compose for the orchestra.

Congrats also to the other 4 selected composers:

Jorik Bergman (born 1996 in Leiden, The Netherlands) is a professional jazz flutist, composer and arranger living in Cologne. She enjoys writing for large jazz ensembles and is currently organising her next big project. On the side, she has her own jazz trio in which she plays the flute, is doing her Master’s degree in composition at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and is also a professional model. Her dream is to retire one day and build her own miniature golf course in the south of France.

Tobias Hoffmann (*1988) is a saxophonist, composer and arranger born in Germany and currently living in Vienna and Graz. Besides being the bandleader of his award-winning “Tobias Hoffmann Nonet”, he works as a sideman for various projects and bands. He is also currently working on the debut CD of his “Tobias Hoffmann Jazz Orchestra”, which will be released in 2022.

Bianca Rantala is a 22-year-old arranger, composer, pianist and big band conductor from Estonia. She is currently studying music production in Helsinki, Finland and works as a freelance musician. Rantala is the conductor of several Estonian big bands, including the Taltech Bigband, the GOMK Bigband and the New Wind Jazz Orchestra. She has composed and arranged for all kinds of ensembles, but especially for big bands, vocal groups, wind and string orchestras. In 2020 she won 1st place in the Baltic Big Band Composition Contest.

Born in 1992 in south-eastern Styria (Austria), singer, composer and pianist Ursula Reicher shows her great passion for music in her diverse work, moving in many musical styles. She completed her master’s degree in jazz composition and arranging with Ed Partyka at the Kunstuniversität Graz/Institut Jazz as well as studying music education at KUG Graz and German at KF-Uni in Graz. Her great love is her current main project ‘The Void-Quintet’, a special formation with which she released her debut album “Globular Cluster” in 2019 and was also awarded a Downbeat- Award for “Outstanding Performance” in 2019 and 2020. Ursula was also awarded a Downbeat Award for Outstanding Composition in 2020 and 2021.