Dutch cellist, composer, and improviser Ernst Reijseger (b. Netherlands, 1954) is a historic figure whose extraordinary career over the past five decades has spanned the fields of jazz, improvisation, classical and Baroque music, and world music. An idiosyncratic instrumentalist with a strong interest in disrupting musical genres — so much so that his first appearance at Guimarães Jazz, 26 years ago, contributed to a heated and polarising debate among music critics over the legitimacy of aesthetic cross-pollination in jazz — the first two decades of this cellist’s career were marked by intense collaborative activity, both within ensembles, most notably the Clusone Trio alongside Michael Moore and Han Bennink, and in projects led by some of the most influential figures in European and North American jazz and improvised music, including Louis Sclavis, Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg, Steve Lacy, and Gerry Hemingway, among many others.

The beginning of the 2000s marked a turning point in Reijseger’s career, with his focus progressively shifting towards his own compositional work, documented on more than a dozen albums released by the prestigious Winter & Winter label. The first of these, Colla Parte (2004), is a masterpiece of late twentieth-century music recorded with the vocal group Voches de Sardinia. Throughout his career, Reijseger has remained faithful to the principles of musical cross-pollination through collaborations with musicians from geographical regions on the periphery of the European tradition, including Trilok Gurtu, Naná Vasconcelos, and Ceylan Ertem, while also expanding his body of work through associations with literature, theatre, visual arts, and cinema.

Harmen Fraanje (b. Netherlands, 1976) is regarded by specialised critics as one of the most impressive European pianists of his generation, a reputation sustained by a body of work as a bandleader and collaborator at the highest level of international jazz. Fraanje co-leads or is a member of several ensembles united by their exploration of unorthodox sonorities and their establishment of creative relationships with musicians from diverse geographical backgrounds and artistic sensibilities. Throughout his prolific career, the Dutch pianist has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most prominent jazz musicians of today, including Ambrose Akinmusire, Theo Bleckmann, Tony Malaby, and Ben Monder, among others, as well as other leading figures in global music, including Portuguese singer Cristina Branco.

Born in Senegal and based in Amsterdam since 1987, Molla Sylla (Dakar, 1956) is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose work is characterised by the intersection of different musical cultures. A gifted and highly expressive singer whose vocal performance is complemented by his exploration of non-Western instruments such as the mbira, kongoma, and kalimba, Sylla was the founder of the groups Senemali — an ensemble bringing together Senegalese and Malian musicians — and Vershki Da Koreshki (later renamed Vedaki), a multinational quartet that included, among others, Russian pianist Alexei Levin.

Sylla’s artistic career has also been shaped by creative relationships with avant-garde double bassist Vladimir Volkov and, most notably, Ernst Reijseger, with whom he has collaborated extensively on numerous projects, including the composition of the memorable and moving soundtracks for Werner Herzog’s films The White Diamond and The Wild Blue Yonder. Both soundtracks were subsequently released together as a single album, Requiem for a Dying Planet (2006).