Farewell: Nicolas Simion

Ana-Maria Jopek (vocals) Nadia Trohin (vocals) Piotr Vojtasik (trumpet) Ryan Carniaux (trumpet) Johan Hoerlen (alto saxophone) Martin Schulte (guitar) Clemens Orth (piano) Martin Gjakonovski (bass) Silvio Morger (drums) Gabriel Matei (drums) Dietrich Schlegel (moderation)

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The saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader Nicolas Simion died unexpectedly on August 29 in Braşov / Kronstadt after a concert at the age of 67. After fleeing Romania for Vienna in 1988, he moved to Cologne in 1997, where he made a name for himself in the jazz scene as the driving force behind what would soon be known as “Balkan Jazz”—a unique fusion of melodies drawn from the rich treasure trove of Southeast European folk music with modern jazz. Unforgettable is a concert titled “Balkan Jazz” by the “Nicolas Simion Group feat. Dusko Goykovich” in 1999 at Cologne’s Stadtgarten, which Nicolas later released as an album on his label 7dreams. Five years later, pieces from this project were arranged for the WDR Big Band and performed—with Nicolas and some of his musicians as soloists—in a spectacular concert in the WDR’s main broadcast hall.

With prominent guests such as Mal Waldron, Lee Konitz, and Tomasz Stanko, Simion gave countless concerts in German cities and neighboring countries, as well as in Romania, where he maintained close family and artistic ties. In addition to his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone, he was proficient on the soprano and bass clarinet, as well as the traditional woodwind instruments of Balkan folk music: the tarogato, tilinka, and kaval. Through his compositions, Simion sought to build a bridge to the modern classical music of composers such as Béla Bartók and George Enescu, both of whom also drew from the rich treasure trove of Balkan folklore. In 2015, Nicolas was awarded the WDR Jazz Prize.

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Venue:

Stadtgarten

The first concert in the newly built Stadtgarten concert hall in the mid-1980s launched a program unlike anything Germany had seen: an independent, artistically driven concert series devoted to contemporary improvised music. It was guided neither by attendance figures nor by public subsidies, yet it guaranteed musicians minimum fees and was run on professional terms. The conditions mattered just as much: an acoustically optimized, street-level concert space offering a strong setting for audiences and performers alike. Operations were financed through the adjoining hospitality business, the Stadtgarten restaurant and beer garden, a model that drew attention well beyond Germany.

Today the Stadtgarten Köln ranks among Europe's internationally recognized venues for contemporary and improvised music. The American magazine Down Beat features it regularly in its listings; it has received Germany's federal APPLAUS venue program award several times, including "Venue of the Year" in 2016, followed by the German Jazz Prize in the same category in 2022. More than 400 events across the full spectrum of contemporary music now take place there each year. Its international standing rests above all on the high proportion of demanding, experimental programming.

A programming mission of this kind depends on reliable public support. The venue's 30th anniversary in September 2016 opened that prospect: through a partnership between the City of Cologne and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, programming work is being substantially strengthened, and from 2017 onward the Stadtgarten Köln is being developed step by step into a "European Center for Jazz and Contemporary Music" – with the goal of becoming one of Europe's leading music centers.

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More dates at Stadtgarten: