Peter Gall Quintet wins BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020. The quintet prevailed against the Adam Bałdych Quartet at the philharmonic hall at Gasteig. BMW Welt Jazz Award 2022 will be following the theme “Key Position”.

Munich. At the final concert of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020 held on Friday evening, the Peter Gall Quintet won over the award’s renowned jury. Together with saxophonist Wanja Slavin, Dutch guitarist Reinier Baas, pianist Reiner Böhm and up-and-coming bassist Felix Henkelhausen, drummer Peter Gall prevailed against the dam Bałdych Quartet. Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, presented the prize together with Anton Biebl, Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital Munich.

Following the theme “The Melody at Night”, the concerts of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020 were presented at BMW Welt’s double coned structure and for the first time on Tuesday evenings. Having been postponed for over a year due to the global pandemic, the final concert of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020 now took place at the philharmonic hall at Gasteig, thanks to the city of Munich.

The expert jury said: “Both finalists convincingly brought the motto ‘The Melody at Night’ of this BMW Welt Jazz Award edition to life with a personal twist of their own. Adam Bałdych has once again proven to be a technically and stylistically unique violinist. And the drummer Peter Gall, who has already shown his brilliance in so many ways while participating in the projects of others, has proven to be an outstanding composer and great band leader with his very first work of his own. Together with his dream team, the all-star quintet starring Rainer Böhm, Reinier Baas, Wanja Slavin and Felix Henkelhausen, Gall generates a veritable intoxication of sound. As complex and interconnected the song structures are, they are simultaneously powerful, exciting and simply created to take in and enjoy. Many elements flow into this endeavor – and everything fits together fantastically as well as harmoniously. A real somnambulistic ‘Dreambox’ as the album is titled. A magic box so thrilling and inspiring that the jury would like to congratulate Peter Gall and his quintet for winning the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020.”

Peter Gall Quintet received a prize money of 10,000 Euro as well as the trophy designed by BMW Design. The runner up Adam Bałdych Quartet was awarded 5,000 Euro.

In addition to the award and supported by the jazz award’s partner Bayerischer Hof, the public’s favorite was also selected. Based on audience votes at each performance, Adam Bałdych Quartet excited the guests and will therefore receive an exclusive performance at the Night Club of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich.

Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Director of Hu-man Resources and Labour Relations, praised the skills of the finalists: “I am delighted that we were now able to hold the final concert of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020 this year and celebrate its winner. My fullest congratulations to the Peter Gall Quintet. I would also like to thank our long-standing partners, especially the state capital Munich. Together with them, the BMW Group stands for reliability and takes its social and cultural responsibilities seriously for already 50 years now.Therefore, it gives me great pleasure that the BMW Welt Jazz Award will also be continued next year. Following the theme ‘Key Position’, the BMW Welt Jazz Award will focus on one of the characterizing instruments of jazz music: the piano. It has been playing an important role and has been inspiring audiences from the very beginning with ragtime and boogie woogie over great bigband pianists and legends of modern jazz until now.”

“I cannot think of our city’s cultural life without the BMW Welt Jazz Award anymore. The series of concerts at BMW Welt with high-ranking jazz ensembles gives free access to thousands of music fans for many years now. I am very grateful to our partner BMW for their great and continuous cultural engagement over all those years. It fills me with joy that by providing the philharmonic hall for this year’s final concert, a large audience could be a part of it following the necessary COVID regulations,” said Anton Biebl, Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital Munich.

Different from the previous years, there were only five instead of six performances given by renowned ensembles from around the world in the double coned structure of BMW Welt in January and February 2020. Besides the two finalists, the musicians playing in the double cone structure of BMW Welt were: Cecilie Grundt Quintet (Norway), the Andrea Hermenau Quintet (Germany) and Reis/Demuth/Wiltgen (Luxembourg). The sixth concert with the Giovanni Guidi Quintet (Italy) had to be cancelled due to related measures taken to control the corona virus. The Italian jazz pianist and his quintet will now perform at BMW Welt Jazz Award 2022 following the theme “Key Position”.

The winner of the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2020 was selected by a top-class jury of reputable jazz experts and connoisseurs. Chaired by Oliver Hochkeppel (music and culture correspondent with Süddeutsche Zeitung), the panel members were: Roland Spiegel (music editor and jazz specialist with the Bavarian broadcaster BR-KLASSIK), Andreas Kolb (editor-in-chief of JazzZeitung.de and nmz - neue musikzeitung), Heike Lies (musicologist with the Music and Musical Theatre Division of the City of Munich’s Department of Culture), and Christiane Böhnke-Geisse (artistic director of the international jazz festival Bingen swingt).

This year the BMW Welt Jazz Awards benefited from the kind support of nmz – neue musikzeitung, the Department of Cultural Affairs of the state capital Munich, the renowned Munich luxury hotel Bayerischer Hof and the Munich radio station egoFM.

For further questions please contact:
Daria Nikitina
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
HR, Work Environment, Real Estate, Corporate Citizenship
Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382 60340
Email: Daria.Nikitina@bmw.de

Prof. Dr Thomas Girst
BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs
HR, Work Environment, Real Estate, Corporate Citizenship
Head of Cultural Engagement
Telephone: +49 89 382 24753
Email: Thomas.Girst@bmwgroup.com

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