Manu Codjia Trio winner of BMW Welt Jazz Award 2015. Series of concerts to be continued in 2016 following the motto “Inspired by Legends”.

Munich. The winner of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2015 is the French ensemble Manu Codjia Trio. Following the final concert on Saturday evening, this ensemble won against Austrian contender FAT – Fabulous Austrian Trio. Helmut Käs, head of BMW Welt, presented the winning ensemble with the award. 

Following this year’s motto “Playing my Guitar”, both ensembles performed in front of a full house of around 550 guests in the auditorium of BMW Welt. In the end, the French trio surrounding guitarist Manu Codjia managed to convince the expert jury. 

They stated: 

“The jury has today been convinced by an old virtue of jazz nowadays almost forgotten: To make use of known and beloved pieces and turn them into something of their own. The Manu Codjia Trio is so much at home in its own world of sound, that the original tracks are barely recognizable. The trio’s scope is outstanding, encompassing the most tender ballads, powerful rock anthems as well as avant-garde sounds.” 

The New Yorker ensemble Camila Meza Quartet is the winner of the audience award. This native Chilean and her three fellow musicians can look forward to an exclusive stay and concert at resort Schloss Elmau. During the final concert, Mr Käs also announced the motto for the coming year. In 2016, the successful series of concerts will be following the motto “Inspired by Legends”, thereby putting the focus of the musical performance on the “old masters”. 

“Germany, Switzerland, Norway, USA – and now France! We only have to look at the list of our winners’ home countries to see just how internationally important this competition has become since 2009. My congratulations tonight go to the Manu Codjia Trio, but I’d also like to say a big thank you to all the fantastic bands who have taken part this year and shared their passion for jazz with us, especially the New York-based Camila Meza Quartet, which won our Audience Award”, said Dr Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG. 

The winner of the first prize, trio of French-Ivorian Manu Codjia, received 10,000 Euro in prize money as well as a trophy designed by BMW Design. The runner‑up, FAT – Fabulous Austrian Trio, received a prize of 5,000 Euro. 

2015 marked the seventh edition of the BMW Welt Jazz Award. During the Sunday morning concerts held at the double‑coned structure of BMW Welt, a total of six renowned international ensembles competed for the award between January and March. Alongside today’s finalists the list of ensembles included Michel Sajrawy Trio (Israel), Camila Meza Quartet (USA), Hellmüller Risso Zanoli (Switzerland/Italy) and Carl Mörner Ringström Majestic Orchestra (Denmark). 

The panel of expert jurors from the jazz scene included:

Oliver Hochkeppel (journalist for music and cultural affairs at the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”), Andreas Kolb (editor-in-chief of the magazines “JazzZeitung”, “neue musikzeitung” and “Silberhorn”), Roland Spiegel (editor at the music desk and jazz expert at German broadcasting station Bayerischer Rundfunk “BR‑KLASSIK“), Heike Lies (musicologist, Music and Music Theatre Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital Munich) and Christiane Böhnke-Geisse (Jazz & Music Consulting and Promotion).

This year’s edition of the BMW Welt Jazz Award was generously supported by “BR-KLASSIK”, “JazzZeitung”, Ludwig Beck department store, resort Schloss Elmau and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the city of Munich. In addition, kunstevent supported the final concert and presented a selection of paintings by artists Carl-H1 Daxl, Maja Jiranek and Ursula Leinfelder. 

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For further questions please contact:

Dr Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

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Leonie Laskowski

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Cultural Engagement

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Daria Gotto-Nikitina

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Spokesperson Marketing, BMW Welt and FIZ Future

Telephone: +49-89-382-60340

Internet:  www.press.bmwgroup.com, Mail: presse@bmw.de

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Email: presse@bmw.de

About BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business. 

Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview  

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