Musikmesse Festival 2016: the first headliners and venues announced
Al Jarreau & the hr-Bigband, Roger Cicero, Laith Al Deen, BigCityBeats Birthday, Eisbrecher and many other artists to make the city resound with music
40 concerts planned in over 20 locations throughout Frankfurt
The first Musikmesse Festival will be held on the occasion of Musikmesse 2016 and enrich the International Trade Fair for Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Music Production and Music Business Connections (7 to 10 April 2016) by an additional highlight and offer exhibitors, trade visitors and all music aficionados an extensive range of events in the city’s clubs, bars and concert venues – after the exhibition halls have closed for the day, too.
Musikmesse Festival 2016: the first headliners and venues announced
Al Jarreau & the hr-Bigband, Roger Cicero, Laith Al Deen, BigCityBeats Birthday, Eisbrecher and many other artists to make the city resound with music
40 concerts planned in over 20 locations throughout Frankfurt
The first Musikmesse Festival will be held on the occasion of Musikmesse 2016 and enrich the International Trade Fair for Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Music Production and Music Business Connections (7 to 10 April 2016) by an additional highlight and offer exhibitors, trade visitors and all music aficionados an extensive range of events in the city’s clubs, bars and concert venues – after the exhibition halls have closed for the day, too. The organisers have now announced an initial list of artists who will appear within the framework of the Musikmesse Festival, and numerous venues. The first confirmed acts underscore the great stylistic spectrum covered by the Musikmesse Festival. The headliners include:
Al Jarreau & the hr-Bigband
Renowned international jazz, pop and rhythm-and-blues musician Al Jarreau is to be honoured with the Frankfurt Music Prize 2016. Jarreau is one of the leading singers of contemporary jazz and has released more than 20 albums in the course of his 50-year career. On 10 April, this exceptional artist will give a very special concert together with the hr-Bigband in ‘Saal Harmonie’ of Congress Centre Messe Frankfurt. During this evening of the Musikmesse Festival, numerous gems from Al Jarreau’s repertoire will be performed in orchestral form under the direction of Jörg Achim Keller.
Cicero Sings Sinatra – exclusive special concert in Frankfurt
The current tour by multiple Echo winner Roger Cicero begins on 7 April with an appearance in Frankfurt. On the eve of the tour premiere and on the occasion of the opening of Musikmesse 2016, the artist and his big band will give an exclusive concert at the popular Gibson Club (6 April). Although intended primarily for invited guests, friends and supporters, there will also be a limited contingent of tickets for fans at the evening box office. For the first concert of the tour in Frankfurt’s ‘Alte Oper’ event hall on the following evening, there is only a limited amount of tickets remaining.. This concert is also being held within the framework of the Musikmesse Festival.
BigCityBeats Birthday
BigCityBeats, one of the best-known brands on the German nightlife scene, will celebrate its birthday within the framework of the Musikmesse Festival in Frankfurt on 8 April. International superstars Axwell Λ Ingrosso are the headliners who aim to make the ‘Festhalle’ event hall quake. The Swedish DJ duo consists of the two Swedish House Mafia members, Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell. Axwell Λ Ingrosso rank among the world’s best DJs and currently hold 17th place in the DJ Mag Top 100 ranking. Their set at the BigCityBeats Birthday is also the warm-up for the BigCityBeats World Club Dome 2016 at the Commerzbank Arena in June. BigCityBeats is a partner of the Musikmesse Festival.
Eisbrecher
The pioneers of the ‘Neue Deutsche Härte’ (New German Hardness) rock music will appear on the stage of the ‘Jahrhunderthalle’ concert hall in Frankfurt on 8 April. Eisbrecher will give their only indoor show in Frankfurt this year as part of their ‘Full Speed Ahead – Tour 2016’ and as Musikmesse Festival headliners. The Munich-based sextet is characterised by a special combination of hard guitar sounds and powerful electro elements. Their latest album, ‘Schock’, climbed to second place on the German album charts.
Laith Al-Deen
Born in Karlsruhe but raised in the USA and Mannheim, Laith Al-Deen is one of Germany’s most successful pop musicians. Since his debut in 2000, he has sold over a million albums. The concert of the German pop-poet in Frankfurt is a special highlight of the Musikmesse Festival. Laith Al-Deen will give an exclusive concert and inspire his audience with his special sound of powerful pop, soul and rock elements at the ‘Unionhalle’ on 7 April.
International German Piano Award with Joseph Moog and Andrejs Osokins
The official Musikmesse opening concert will be held in the ‘Alte Oper’ on the eve of the fair, 6 April 2016. It marks the climax of the ‘International German Piano Award Festival’ and presents award-winning pianists Joseph Moog (Ludwigshafen) and Andrejs Osokins (Latvia). The artists will appear with a national and international orchestra comprising the strings of the Kremerata Baltica and the wind sector of the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra under the direction of Boian Videnoff. On the programme are works by Modest Mussorgsky, Robert Schumann, Anton Rubinstein and Franz Liszt.
The Dead Daisies
The all-star band is regarded as the biggest new name in classic rock and consists of the renowned artists John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, The Scream), Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio), Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake), Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner) and David Lowy (Red Phoenix, Mink). After a highly successful tour of several continents, the American band will appear as a special guest at Musikmesse on all four days – and play at ‘Zoom’ in Frankfurt on Friday, 8 April. Other events and activities of the Musikmesse Festival
In addition to the headliners, there will be numerous other concerts in clubs, off-locations, universities and churches. The festival has no single stylistic emphasis. Instead, it aims to present the complete musical spectrum – from rock and pop, via classic and jazz, to dance and electro. The presentation of young artists and promoting active music making among young people are also important objectives of the Musikmesse Festival. A full programme with details of all artists, acts and venues will be published in March.
Numerous venues throughout Frankfurt
The events of the Musikmesse Festival will take place in over 20 concert halls, clubs, discos and event locations in Frankfurt. In addition to the Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre with its three stages (Agora Stage, Unplugged Stage, Beck’s Open Stage), they include: Alte Oper, Die Fabrik, Festhalle Frankfurt, Gibson, Hafen 2, Institut für neue Medien (INM), Jahrhunderthalle, Liebfrauenkirche, Orange Peel, PTH Sankt Georgen, Saal Harmonie im Congresscenter, The Cave, Unionhalle, Zoom and Zukunftspavillon auf dem Rossmarkt.
Free Festival Ticket for all Musikmesse visitors
There will be a special Festival Ticket giving visitors cheaper or even free admission to the events of the four-day Musikmesse Festival (as long as tickets and capacity are available). The ticket – a Festival wrist band and a voucher booklet – is free of charge for Musikmesse visitors and can be collected from all information counters at the Exhibition Centre. Members of the public buying the Festival Ticket for € 15 at the box office of one of the Festival venues will receive an attractive discount on the price of a Musikmesse admission ticket. There will be no advance sales of Festival Tickets or discounted individual tickets.
Organisers and partners
The Musikmesse Festival is being organised on behalf of Messe Frankfurt by Weyand Entertainment Consulting GmbH. Overall responsibility for the programme is in the hands of Wolfgang Weyand, an event organiser with experience of numerous large-scale projects, including the ‘Sound of Frankfurt’ open-air festival and, together with Voss+Fischer and Mike P. Heisel, the cultural programme of the German pavilion at last year’s EXPO in Milan. Musikmesse Festival is supported by numerous institutes and companies from the world of music and culture. The Cooperation Partners include: Clubs am Main e.V., Cluster der Kreativwirtschaft in Hessen e.V. (CLUK), Jazz-Initiative Frankfurt am Main e.V. and Lakewood Guitars GmbH & Co. KG.
The Musikmesse Festival is part of the new Musikmesse concept, with which Messe Frankfurt is paving the way for the continued success of the fair in the future. The innovations include expanded facilities and services for retailers and distributors, which will further increase the significance of the fair as a global business and information platform. Additionally, Musikmesse will open its doors for the first time to all visitors for four full days, i.e., to both trade visitors and music aficionados. The sequence of days has also been changed so that the Musikmesse is now held from Thursday to Sunday, thus making it possible for people to visit the fair over the whole weekend.
Further information about the programme of events at Musikmesse and the Musikmesse Festival can be found at www.musikmesse-festival.com and www.facebook.com/musikmesse.festival/
