CHIII Festival’s creative approach in realizing a digital festival edition in spite of the pandemic and political situation in Brazil at the time, their loyalty towards the local music scene and boldness in exploring new artistic territory under the most unfavourable conditions, had made a deep impression on me. My team and I were lucky to be able to count on such reliable partners and their kind generosity in sharing their knowledge and expertise when we took on the challenge of organizing a remote São Paulo feature at Jazzfest Berlin 2021 together.

When I think back to the early days of that year, our online meetings with Manoela Wright and Juliano Gentile were amongst those few bright moments that truly inspired me and helped me through the challenge of planning a festival from the isolation of the pandemic. Not only did we learn a great deal about the stunning musical and cultural diversity of the city’s Jazz and Improvised Music scene. The four audio-visual productions resulting from this partnership also constituted a great artistic enrichment to the festival program, giving the Berlin audience the opportunity to witness creative music from Sao Paulo at its best within a shared artistic space – after all a quite unique opportunity in times of the pandemic.

I am delighted that these pieces can now be “brought home” to Sao Paulo within the current edition of CHIII Festival – and that CHIII keeps up the musical exchange between our two cities by inviting great improvisers from Berlin to play in Sao Paulo now that presenting live music across continents has become possible again.

Nadin Deventer, artistic director of Jazzfest Berlin

Quando penso nos primeiros dias daquele ano, nossos encontros online com Manoela Wright e Juliano Gentile foram alguns dos poucos momentos brilhantes que realmente me inspiraram e me ajudaram no desafio de planejar um festival a partir do isolamento da pandemia. Não só aprendemos muito sobre a impressionante diversidade musical e cultural da cena de Jazz e música improvisada da cidade. As quatro produções audiovisuais resultantes desta parceria também constituíram um grande enriquecimento artístico para a programação do festival, dando ao público berlinense a oportunidade de testemunhar o melhor da música criativa paulistana em um espaço artístico compartilhado – afinal, uma oportunidade única em tempos da pandemia.

Estou muito feliz que essas peças possam agora ser “trazidas para casa” em São Paulo na atual edição do CHIII Festival – e que o CHIII mantenha o intercâmbio musical entre nossas duas cidades convidando grandes improvisadores de Berlim para tocar em São Paulo agora que apresentar música ao vivo entre continentes tornou-se possível novamente.

Nadin Deventer, diretora artística do Jazzfest Berlin