"Jazz delivers the freedom I loved as a child." Omer Klein
The story of this encounter is perhaps typical of him: Omer Klein met the musicians of the Aris Quartet at a pandemic concert format at the Alte Oper in 2020. They liked each other, saw surprising parallels despite their different musical backgrounds and devised a joint concert project - which was then actually launched at the Alte Oper. The pianist regularly engages in such surprising connections, crossing the boundaries between improvisation and interpretation, between jazz and classical music with great pleasure in sound experimentation. Sometimes he moves from Bach to the present day with mandolinist Avi Avital, sometimes he develops music for a dance performance, sometimes he traces oriental influences, sometimes klezmer. "Jazz provides the freedom that I loved as a child," says Omer Klein. And it is precisely this freedom that the jazz residency that the pianist is presenting at the Alte Oper from March 11 to May 10, 2025 is all about.
Omer@School
"New York was my school," says the Israeli-born pianist and composer Omer Klein when he thinks about important stages in his career to date. The jazz artist in residence for the 2024/25 season knows very well that nothing beats practical experience for a budding musician. For this reason, just like his previous residency predecessors, he is very curious and willing to embark on a project with Frankfurt schoolchildren in which he shares his wealth of experience and makes music with young people. In workshops, he will work on a program with school jazz ensembles from Frankfurt and then bring it to the stage - at the Alte Oper, of course!
March 11, 2025
Omer Klein's new Sextet
Omer Klein is coming to the Alte Oper with a new formation as part of his jazz residency: his newly formed sextet, based on his trio, is an exciting musical unit that allows the pianist and composer to live out the many facets of his work together as an ensemble. A group of intrepid musicians combine to form a colorful amalgam of various keyboard instruments, basses, percussion and wind instruments. Klein's new collection of compositions for the sextet thrives on its characteristically infectious grooves, catchy melodies and adventurous harmonies, which are here combined with a new sense of arrangement and orchestration. Klein's love of the musical worlds of Brazil and Africa also finds its place in the sextet's universe.
April 29, 2025
Omer Klein Trio
A mere 20-minute walk along Mainzer Landstraße lies between the Alte Oper and the Freitagsküche, a unique location not far from the train station that sees itself as a mixture of restaurant, social meeting place and art space and has long since ceased to be an insider's tip for going out in Frankfurt. This is exactly where the music will be sent in the second event of the "Auswärtsspiel" series. Pianist Omer Klein, the Alte Oper's resident jazz artist for the 2024/25 season, and his trio have created a program that matches the vibrancy of this urban place of culture and encounters. Of course, culinary delights are a must on a Friday and, this time, Saturday evening. And so it's not just the music that brings people together on the evening, but also the shared enjoyment of exquisite Mediterranean dishes - the food is included in the ticket price.
May 9 and 10, 2025
