MeeThePro 2022

MeeThePro is a space for meetings between artistic directors, programmers, managers and artists. With a format which is dynamic, close, and enjoyable, consist of short presentations by artistic directors of international festivals and clubs aimed at a small audience.

After the presentations, a relaxed space will be created off stage so that the attending managers, musicians or promoters can approach the artistic director most suited to their project and have the opportunity to build relationships and alliances.

MeeThePro will take place on March 25th from 14:30 to 16:30. One session that will have as guests 10 programmers and artistic directors of festivals from different countries.

Registration is required to attend MeeThePro.

Only FULL PASS attendees will have free access to this new activity.

Please note that seating is limited, and requests will be confirmed in order of receipt.

get your full pass here

FRIDAY 25 | 14:30 · 16:30

ÁBEL PETNEKI

Budapest Music Center (Hungary)

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Ábel Petneki has promoted jazz, contemporary and classical concerts at Budapest Music Center and Opus Jazz Club since 2017, having previously worked as a freelance booking agent for 2 years and in marketing for 8 years. With more than 400 concerts each year, the core mission of Budapest Music Center remains the same ever since its 1996 founding: to present the music of today as a privately owned and independent concert venue, jazz club, record label, music library and information center.

BESIM PETRELA

JAZZinALBANIA International Fest. (Albania)

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Besim Petrela is the general director of the Albanian association Syri Blu, which promotes many cultural activities for the promotion of Albanian artists through collaboration with the international scene. Since 2021, he has been organising the international jazz and world music festival, JAZZinAlbania, with the participation of bands from different countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Israel and the United States, among others. Throughout 2021, the association also promoted two other projects: NetFolk, which aims to create alliances between the Adriatic regions through common strategies to preserve their intangible legacy and musical traditions, and JazzNetwork, which creates alliances between France, Balkan cities and Jazz NGO.

BRAULIO PÉREZ

Festival Música en el Parque (Spain)

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Braulio Pérez is the director of the Festival Música en el Parque, which is held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, an open, cosmopolitan and culturally rich city. This is the ideal setting for the series, which showcases a selection of some of the most important artists on the so-called “world music” scene. This stage is a meeting point for lovers of cultural diversity and for an audience receptive to the different proposals that come from all over the world. It also welcomes new cultures and distant proposals that have no place in the mainstream media. The concerts take place on Sundays at midday in the Doramas Park, next to the José Antonio Ramos Auditorium, in the open air, with capacity for up to a thousand people.

CHRISTINE SÖRRIES

Münsterland Festival (Germany)

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Christine Sörries studied architecture and works in urban and territorial planning. She is also involved in different cultural projects and is head of the cultural department of the German district of Coesfeld.

In 2005 she founded the Münsterland Festival, of which she is still the artistic director. Since 2018, she has also been a freelance curator of music and visual arts at venues such as BurgJazz and Burg Vischering.

JEAN-MICHEL PROUST

Jazz au Phare (France)

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JEAN-PIERRE BISSOT

Gaume Jazz Festival (Belgium)

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Jean-Pierre Bissot began his professional career at Jeunesses Musicales in 1976 after studying mathematics and musicology.

In 1985, he created an international jazz festival with the Jeunesses Musicales, the Gaume Jazz Festival, with the aim of supporting bands formed by young musicians and, at the same time, encouraging new generations to listen to jazz music.

Between 1985 and 2021, the Gaume Jazz Festival has had 37 editions, with more than 900 concerts and 82 artistic creations. What makes it unique is the importance given to original creations by artists from Wallonia and Brussels, the determination to explore Europe’s lesser-known jazz territories, and the desire to showcase new artists.

MICHAEL JOHANNESEN

G! Festival (Islas Feroe, Denmark)

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Michael Johannesen has been deeply involved in organizing music events since 2007. He started his career in Copenhagen and, since returning to the Faroe Islands in 2017, he has been working at the G! Festival.

The festival is an annual three-day event that takes place in SyðruG!öta and brings together 5,000 attendees in a village of only 400 inhabitants. G! is situated in an incomparable setting, a terrain dominated by mountains and carpets of grass and nestled between the peaks and the ocean. The action is divided into four stages: The Beach, Playground, Ground Zero and The Barn.

PIA HOFFMANN

Schwesterherz Records (Germany)

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Pia is a music supervisor for Film and TV. She has been the creative hub for directors, producers, composers, publishers and labels alike for 15 years. Her setups and concepts are tailor-made, always finding the perfect equilibrium between a unique artistic style and budgetary demands, and always connecting the right kind of people. Her services include rights clearances as well as contract negotiations.

Pia strongly believes in creative teamwork and various ways of making the music heard and is therefore not only responsible for Schwesterherz Records (a label for emerging talented artists), but is also a frequent keynote speaker at music congresses and an ardent lecturer for film students and festival participants.

RALUCA BAICU

North Sea Round Town (Netherlands)

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Based in Rotterdam, Raluca Baicu holds a Bachelor of Classical Music in Clarinet Performance and a Master’s degree in Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship. She is the artistic coordinator and curator of the North Sea Round Town Fringe Festival. She is also a music programmer at BIRD and BIRDfest, where she focuses on talent development and special projects. She also programmes jazz at the De Doelen Centre.

Throughout her career she has worked in music, programming, audience development, talent development and international collaboration, among others.

MIGUEL RAMÍREZ

Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más (Spain)

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The festival was born in 1992, when the word jazz only meant something to a few connoisseurs. With its creation a world of musical and leisure possibilities opened up. Today, after 30 consecutive editions in the archipelago, the festival is a reference both nationally and internationally and has changed the way people feel about the music and shows in the Canary Islands. It has built a loyal local following as well as attracting an international audience. Through the Festival the most diverse jazz styles and related musics, the most representative musicians and groups of all ages and countries have left their mark on the Canary Islands. Well established musicians, emerging musicians and musicians from the Canaries and elsewhere all perform here. The 31^st edition will be from July 1^st – 24^th 2022.

SEBASTIAN HECHT

XJAZZ Festival (Germany)

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Sebastian Hecht is working in the vibrant music world of Berlin for more than 5 years. Almost his whole life he has been intensively involved with music and thereby got to know almost every field of the music industry on the practical side. In his studies of musicology, he intensively researched the interfaces between electronic music, live-improvisation and classical composition techniques. After attending countless music events, constantly searching for new music and musical concepts, Hecht is now very grateful for the fact of being able to actively contribute to the world of music.