The speed and sure-footedness with which Artistic Director Anastasia Wolkenstein has developed Regensburg’s new “Sparks and Visions” Festival into a thriving venture are quite remarkable. The core team running last year’s inaugural event consisted of just three people. This year it has already expanded to six, which meant that the team could sort out the unexpected while she could concentrate on delivering quality.

The momentum and credibility of this whole venture have clearly been aided by the fact that Bayerischer Rundfunk only had to take one look at her proposed programme for the first festival in January 2023, believed in it so much that they decided to record it in its entirety. Every note of music. And they have adopted the “same procedure as last year?” (that phrase always gets a laugh here in Germany / also see the response in the conclusion of this article) and will be broadcasting four hours of concert recordings.

The festival has other things going for it, not least the venue. Theater Regensburg is a grand, horseshoe-shaped opera house modelled on La Scala. It is, as Wolkenstein has said, “such a great space. It’s inviting. I think something on the lines of: ‘Look, it’s nice here, why don’t you come and have a look?’” And it is remarkable how many different kinds of music work so well in it. Regensburg is also a delightful city with a wonderfully preserved historic centre, and nice places to gather such as a delightful historic “Wurstkuchl” by the fast-flowing Danube which I discovered on this visit, learning that it has been serving food since the 1620s. There is an appealing side to Regensburg folk in general and to the festival audiences in particular. Certainly a few of the bands remarked how warm and supportive the audience seemed, as experienced from the stage.

The quality stayed high, but there was one special experience from which could I see every audience member emerging with a smile on her or his face. I was hearing words like “Spielfreude” (joy in playing), “Leichtigkeit” (lightness) being repeated all around me. This was the duo set from Greek-born, Berlin-based vibraphonist Evi Filippou and bassist Robert Lucaciu, born in Saxony and of Romanian origin. The pair have worked together for three years and seem to spark off incredible positive energy in each other. They played Geri Allen’s “Feed the Fire” near the end of the set, and I can’t wait to hear that on the radio. Lucaciu and Filippou both give huge energy, and the vibraphonist has a wonderfully light touch on the instrument (I can’t think of another player who plays quite that weightlessly).

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Theirs was the Sunday 11am slot, poignantly coinciding with the moment when some 6,000 people gathered in one of the main town squares as part of a nation-wide movement of mass protest against the scourge of the extreme right , something which Lucaciu also mentioned (most artists didn’t.)

It was not the only highlight. The 2024 programme consisted of two evening triple bills, followed by a Sunday 11am matinee double bill. Wolkenstein is an avid and devoted listener, and it shows: she was able to introduce the duo of the 82 year old Norma Winstone with pianist Kit Downes with the reflection that Norma’s contributions to Kenny Wheeler’s “Music for Large and Small Ensembles” are her singalong music for getting through her tasks at home. Winstone and Downes’s set steered carefully, thoughtfully, elegantly to a fine conclusion with the singer’s own lyrics to Jimmy Rowles’s “The Peacocks” and then a swinging, finger-clicking Cole Porter “You are Everything I Love” as the encore.

The two other featured vocalists at the festival also brought fascination and variety. Ganna, originally from Ukraine, did a solo show with keyboards and electronics. The levels of talent – even wizardry – musicological, composer-ish, vocal – which run through her and in so many different ways are extraordinary, and she will make new fans at jazzahead! 2024 where she will have a showcase.

Estonian Kadri Voorand has developed her craft and assuredness as performer by leaps and bounds since I last heard her five years ago. She truly is the modern virtuoso comfortable in a whole wide range of material to which she gives huge stage presence and energy, switching from Whitney Houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody” to songs inspired by her own deep Estonian folk song heritage. She also delights in taking the persona and perspective of a strong and independent woman, and does so convincingly. She is a very persuasive songwriter too. Mihkel Mälgand on bass and hollow-bodied bass guitar is a class act too.

We were also immersed in the contemplatively intense worlds of two ECM bands, Wolfert Brederode – Ruins and Remains on the Saturday night and the Tord Gustavsen Trio on the Sunday morning. (full band lists below).

There were two younger bands: Alfa Mist’s set had moments of excitement, particularly when drummer Jamie Houghton was channelling Jack DeJohnette in his solo features, or Kaya Thomas-Dyke was doing her vocal feature but in general I was surprised by what an introverted band this can be. There is clearly no rule that you have to do a group hug at the end of a set, but the choice to be the only band not to do one, and especially with such a supportive and encouraging audience as Regensburg…certainly left me with a feeling of incompletion.

The Teis Semey Quintet with several nationalities showed the depth, variety, camaraderie and youthful energy of the Amsterdam scene. Semey himself is a strong bandleader, and the group has an interesting way of contrasting anarchy and madness on the one hand … with the a tight sequence of pre-determined cues and sections which everyone in the band seemed to know with thoroughness and precision.

Wolkenstein as programmer puts a lot of thought into contrast, balance and dramaturgy of each night’s or day’s sequence and how it will work as a whole. It is a task she has genuine flair for, and the results are all the more impressive when one knows that the theatre is in permanent use by other companies.

After two editions, let us hope that “Sparks and Visions” is here to stay, or perhaps we should express that wish as : “Same procedure every year.” Here’s hoping, anyway.

FULL PROGRAMME

Friday 19 January

1) Ganna
Ganna Gryniva – voice, effects

2) Teis Semey Quintet
Teis Semey – guitar
José Soares – alto saxophone
Jesse Schilderink – tenor saxophone
Jort Terwijn – bass
Giovanni Iacovella – drums

3) Norma Winstone and Kit Downes
Norma Winstone – voice
Kit Downes – piano

Saturday 20 January

1) Wolfert Brederode – Ruins and Remains

Wolfert Brederode – piano
Joost Lijbaart – drums, percussion
Matangi Quartet: Maria-Paula Majoor, Hannelore De Vuyst – violins, Karsten Kleijer – viola, Arno van der Vuurst – violoncello

2) Kadri Voorand and Mihkel Mälgand
Kadri Voorand – voice, effects, piano, violin
Mihkel Mälgand – bass

3) Alfa Mist
Alfa Sekitoleko – keys
Jamie Houghton – drums
Johnny Woodham – trumpet
Jamie Leeming – guitar
Kaya Thomas-Dyke – bass, vocals

Sunday 21 January

1) Evi Filippou and Robert Lucaciu
Evi Filippou – vibraphone
Robert Lucaciu – bass

2) Tord Gustavsen Trio
Tord Gustavsen – piano, electronics
Steinar Raknes – bass
Jarle Vespestad – drums

LINKS: LJN coverage of Sparks & Visions
Festival website