SÜDTIROL JAZZFESTIVAL ALTO ADIGE 2026 - Opening night

Opening Night

The Südtirol Jazz Festival opens its season with a double concert at NOI Techpark in Bolzano, where the venue's historic industrial pool becomes an extraordinary open-air stage.

At 8:30 PM, the trio Supersonic Drummers takes the stage: Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Hans Hulbækmo and Gard Nilssen – three of the most prominent voices in Scandinavian drumming – enter into a dialogue of remarkable subtlety. Their individual sound languages interweave into a polyrhythmic tapestry that goes far beyond sheer power. Microscopic timing meets eruptive outbursts, turning the pool into a resonating chamber for Scandinavian precision and creative freedom.

At 9:00 PM, Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra takes over – and the name alone says it all. When ten wind players meet a triple rhythm section of basses and drums, the music hits the audience at supersonic speed. Originally conceived as a commissioned work, the ensemble has grown into a true masterclass in dynamics. Nilssen summons and dissolves vast sound masses with surprising speed, proving that brute force and precise microtiming are not opposites but complements. A high-energy summit that pushes orchestral jazz to its aesthetic and physical limits.