The Gallery Concerts 4: Sommerfest – Various

On 30 August 2025, Siggi Loch, founder of ACT Music, celebrated his 85th birthday at the ACT Art Gallery in Berlin, surrounded by more than 20 of the label’s artists spanning three generations of European jazz. Andreas Brandis curated the programme: rising talents such as Johanna Summer, Jakob Manz and Emma Rawicz met established voices like David Helbock, Florian Willeitner, Daniel García and Andreas Schaerer – and, for the finale, an ensemble of four of the label’s most defining figures: Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner and Nils Landgren, joined by Cæcilie Norby and Magnus Lindgren. They played the Gallery’s Steinway D grand, the very piano on which Alfred Brendel once prepared his concerts for the Berlin Philharmonie. In shifting line-ups, young and seasoned musicians listened to one another, responded on the spot and found a common language. The Gallery Concerts IV: Sommerfest captures nine of these encounters – and shows just how permeable the boundaries between generations in jazz can be.