As a musician, there is nowhere you are as free as in improvisation – here you can separate yourself from the crowd as an individual and then dive back into it again. Freedom is, so to speak, an essential feature of jazz. But jazz also has another connection to freedom: it has been used as a medium to spread the message of freedom and equality, either in powerful songs such as Billie Holiday's ‘Strange Fruit’ or as ‘messages from exile’ in the case of Miriam Makeba. Famous speeches on freedom also had a melody, because they were not only important words, but their speakers were brilliant rhetoricians who spread their important messages with melody and rhythm. Listen to music ranging from gospel to Abbey Lincoln in these concerts. Caroline Lux will explore the language of famous speeches by Nelson Mandela and Václav Havel.

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“Since jazz is one of the most intriguing languages out there, it’s natural to want to combine it with texts and poetry.”

In its new series of jazz events in the Tischlerei the Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin presents six themed concerts featuring smaller formations of the Big Band and guests. The concerts focus on a particular subject or composer, amalgamating music and poetry. Texts, biographical information, poetry and background information on the evening’s unifying theme combine to produce a unique experience for the audience.