An important highlight of this year’s Vilnius Jazz program is the latest developments in French improvised music. This is the festival’s symbolic response to the Lithuanian Season in France, which in 2024 introduced the French audience to a group of jazz virtuosos from our country. Thus, the Vilnius Jazz concerts will feature echoes of the season in France.

Bonbon Flamme is one of the most interesting current projects of French cellist Valentin Ceccaldi. The musician invited exceptionally creative personalities from France, Belgium, and Portugal to play together. The music of this quartet amazes with the improvisers’ imagination, is full of surprises, and is captivating.

Critics welcomed the album of Bonbon Flamme, released in 2023 by Clean Feed, as a kind of self-portrait of the group, revealing the exceptional individuality of these musicians. 

This year saw the release of the group’s new album Calaveras Y Boom Boom Chupitos (BMC Records). According to the quartet members, it was inspired by the taste of lemons and the mystical atmosphere of the Mexican Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). The album invites listeners to a pagan feast full of contrasting experiences, which will also be felt by Vilnius Jazz audience.

Valentin Ceccaldi is considered one of the most distinctive cellists in Europe, whether playing chamber music or fiery improvisations. He inherited his musical calling from his father, a folk violinist and music teacher.

Valentin began playing music at an early age. Like his older brother Theo, he initially played percussion instruments. Among his many teachers, Joëlle Léandre and Vincent Courtois, masters of the cello who have performed at Vilnius Jazz, helped him master the instrument.

Ceccaldi has won prizes in jazz competitions with Marcel & Solange, Walabix, and the Théo Ceccaldi Trio. His brother, violinist Théo, has become one of his most stable partners in performances and recordings. Ceccaldi has also worked extensively with pianist Roberto Negro, vocalist Leïla Martial, and percussionist Sylvain Darrifourcq. The cellist plays in a variety of formations, from duos to large ensembles. 

In 2023, Valentin formed the improvised music quartet Lagon Nwar, which involves Ann O’Aro, Marcel Balboné, and Quentin Biardeau.

Belgian multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer Fulco Ottervanger’s creative spectrum ranges from experimental to pop music projects. He began his journey in music with cello lessons, later taught himself to play the piano, acoustic and bass guitars, and drums, and began composing and recording music at an early age. Fulco later studied jazz piano and classical composition at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.

The pianist is the leader and composer of the contemporary jazz trio De Beren Gieren and the krautpop group Stadt, a member of the duo BeraadGeslagen. He plays in many other ensembles, as well as participates in theatre and dance projects.

Portuguese guitarist Luís Lopes is renowned as an unpredictable experimenter who rejects any restrictions in music and is playing in his own idiom. He started out playing rock, punk, and blues, but later graduated from the Bareiro Jazz School. Saxophonist Joe Giardullo, who became his teacher, introduced the guitarist to the realm of improvised and experimental music.

Luís is the leader of several international jazz ensembles. He plays in the quartet Humanization with Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and Texans Stefan and Aaron Gonzalez, Lisbon Berlin Trio with Germans Christian Lillinger and Robert Landfermann, Guillotine with Valentin Ceccaldi and Norwegian drummer Andreas Wildhagen, and is a member of the Swiss-Portuguese electroacoustic quartet Big Bold Back Bone. The guitarist also plays in the Portuguese Lisbon Freedom Unit, The Trio Garden, and in duos with Jean-Luc Guionnet, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Noel Akchoté, and Julien Desprez.

The concert stage and recordings brought Lopes together with many other well-known figures in jazz and improvised music, including Evan Parker, Samuel Blaser, Ingebrigit Håker Flaten, Stale Solberg, Phil Niblock, Daniel Carter, and Jeb Bishop.

The guitarist is diligently honing his compositional skills. His recordings have attracted the attention of such reputable international publications as Downbeat, All About Jazz, Wire, Cadence Magazine, Jazz’n’more, and others. 

Lopes’ tours have taken him to many European countries. He has performed at The Stone in New York and HideOut club in Chicago. He regularly appears at important free jazz venues and festivals.

French drummer and percussionist Étienne Ziemniak got interested in jazz after studying classical percussion. After graduating from the Jazz à Tours jazz school and the regional conservatory in Tours, he joined the French improvisers’ community. 

The drummer plays in formations ranging from jazz to noise rock. Notable examples include Electric Vocuhila, Mange Ferraille, Cécile Cappozzo Trio, and Théo Ceccaldi’s Freaks. In 2010, he founded the record label Fiasco Records with double bassist Patrice Grente.