How quickly time flies: a whole decade of incredible, home-grown acts gracing the beautiful Porgy & Bess stage! And in honor of the anniversary this year, we’ve cooked up something special. Get ready for Kick Jazz Festival 2025 coming up faster than you think! The annual showcase for local jazz will once again take place at Vienna’s Porgy & Bess on December 3 and 4, 2025. Check out the program below, and see you in December for 10 Years of Kick Jazz!
Kick Jazz 2025 – a cooperation between Austrian Music Export and Porgy & Bess – will once again present exciting and up-and-coming Austrian jazz acts.
On December 3, the cross-genre ensemble Chez Fría will open the evening with a musical journey through time, from Hildegard von Bingen to electro-jazz. This will be followed by the VogelLettner duo, which stands for structured improvisation and sonic experiments. The evening concludes with Purple Muscle Car, whose rousing sound combines urban jazz with influences from hip-hop, indie and club culture.
The evening continues on 4 December with the a cappella quartet HALS, who will impress with their creative improvisation and vocal intensity. This will be followed by the Viennese quartet Alpha Trianguli, who break musical boundaries with their vibrant energy and cosmic sound language. The festival concludes with the trio Mel*E, which artfully combines acoustic and electronic soundscapes.
Both evenings begin punctually at 8:30 pm.
kick jazz 2025 program:
December 3rd, 2025
Chez Fria
Lorenz Widauer – trumpet
Felix Elias Gutschi – recorder
Ferdinand Rauchmann – keyboards
Maximilian Rehrl – bass, keyboards
Paul Widauer – drums
From Hildegard von Bingen to Johann Sebastian Bach, twelve-tone music, and all the way to electro, funk, and jazz – Chez Fría transcends genre boundaries and dares to fuse the most diverse musical styles. In search of sounds, harmonies, and rhythms, they explore centuries of music and interpret them with a contemporary pulse.
With synthesizer, percussion, trumpet, and recorder – playfully yet always with unwavering dedication to the music.
VOGELLETTNER
Georg Vogel: piano, claviton, keyboards
Andreas Lettner: drums
The two musicians’ project represents the special production process they have embarked on. Spontaneously improvised playing is transcribed, reassembled, arranged, placed in a rhythmic environment, and then re-recorded on their instruments. VOGELLETTNER stands for energetic, structured improvisation, full of creativity and surprising twists.
Purple Muscle Car
Fabian Rucker – saxophones
Alois Eberl – trombone
Philipp Nykrin – keyboards
Herbert Pirker – drums
Purple Muscle Car has been on the road since the end of 2022, taking their audiences on musical journeys.
These often take them to the urban regions of the world, where the sounds of jazz cafés, hip hop, indie and EDM clubs as well as large concert halls merge into an exciting mix. Chases on winding coastal roads followed by reconciliation in a beach café are just as much a part of the program as leisurely cruising with cruise control on the freeway towards the sunset in order to catch the midnight special at the American Diner. The disco ball on the inside of the car roof can be activated at any time, and the imaginary journey towards the Milky Way can be continued late at night with the telescope from the trunk.
December 4th, 2025
HALS
Anna Anderluh – vocal
Amina Bouroyen – vocal
Verena Loipetsberger – vocal
Anna Laszlo – vocal
The unaffected and touching performance of the four women of HALS is characterized by their natural expressiveness and directness, which defies the a cappella perfection mainstream. They aren’t afraid to take risks.
From their original compositions, they plunge into collective improvisations with pinpoint accuracy. Inspired by this creative daring and the energy of the audience, their music unfolds a new access with each performance.
Alpha TriangUli
Alois Eberl: Trombone
Florian Klinger: Vibraphone
Philipp Kienberger: Bass
Jakob Kammerer: Drums
Motivated by the curiosity of the four musicians to let themselves fall and be carried away, the band sounds sometimes earthy and energetic – as if approaching a planet – sometimes calm, floating, wondering.
At the same time, the interplay of the Vienna-based quartet gives the impression that it is a micro-cosmos itself. For while the destinations of the quartet’s journey lie in the unknown, the necessary direction of our everyday activity has long been known.
Mel*E
Viola Hammer – Keys/Synth
Judith Ferstl – Bass
Judith Schwarz – Drums
Three strong, unmistakable voices in jazz – Mel*E combines virtuoso interplay with innovative sound research. Their sound fuses acoustic and electronic elements to create hypnotic, driving music that sets the mind and body in motion.
Wide melodic arcs float over energetic grooves, danceable rhythms meet spherical soundscapes – Mel*E plays with contrasts and combines the virtuoso with the immediate, the analog with the digital. Powerful and sensitive, rousing and introspective – always with depth and urgency.