KÜSPERT & KOLLEGEN

Silent films from yesterday with music from today: “Küspert & Kollegen”

On the big screen, the black-and-white aesthetics of the early decades of cinema – at the edge of the stage, a chamber jazz ensemble expresses the atmosphere of the film in contemporary sounds; instead of traditional silent film accompaniment, “Küspert & Kollegen” play contemporary music full of surprises, alternating between precise composition and improvisation.

Küspert & Kollegen reinterpret the films with wit, great sensitivity, and expressive power. In this way, they create an overall picture in which music and film merge. Their repertoire now includes more than 300 films from the silent film era—from various countries—and new works are constantly being added, mostly as commissioned compositions. The repertoire includes classics from the silent film era (e.g., “Berlin, Symphony of a Metropolis,” “Metropolis,” “Faust,” “Nosferatu,” etc.), but also lesser-known works waiting to be rediscovered.

“Küspert & Kollegen” perform at film and jazz festivals; the members all belong to the artistic elite and work on both sides of the questionable boundary between serious and popular music. Together they create sounds for the future – revitalizing the cinematic art of the past, perhaps even for eternity…

Werner Küspert, guitar, concept/composition
Theater, studio, and concert performances are just as much a part of his field of activity as teaching. He directs projects for film and television productions and writes live programs such as “Lyrik und Jazz” (Poetry and Jazz). With his StummFilmLiveJazz project, Werner Küspert travels internationally on behalf of the Goethe-Institut, the German Foreign Office, UFA, the European Union, and others, and has visited many countries on all continents.

The colleagues:
Prof. Hubert Winter, Saxophone, clarinet
Hubert Winter is professor of jazz saxophone at the University of Music in Würzburg; concerts and festival appearances have taken him all over the world. He studied music at the Hermann Zilcher Conservatory in Würzburg and at the New School for Social Research/Mannes Jazz Department in New York, where he lived and worked for a year. He has received numerous awards, including the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize.

Julian Fau, drums
Julian Fau studied at the Nuremberg University of Music (graduating summa cum laude in 2009) and at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam.
He is a three-time winner of the Bruno Rother Jazz Competition in Fürth and has also received the
Talent Promotion Award from the City of Fürth, the WDR Young Jazz Award, and the New German Jazz Award.

Andreas Kurtz, contrabass
Andreas Kurz studied double bass at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Throughout his career, Kurz has collaborated with renowned artists such as Benny Golson, Joey Baron, Joachim Kühn, and others. He has toured worldwide and was awarded the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize. He also won the prestigious New German Jazz Award with the Tim Allhoff Trio. Since 2019, Andreas has been teaching double bass at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.