Can a large ensemble be the sustainable festival booking? Try Brainteaser Orchestra.

Interview with Tijn Wybenga

In 2024 you changed your Orchestra’s name from AM.OK to Brainteaser. Did that stand for a change in approach as well?

‘When I started AM.OK I was still searching in what way I could approach composing for a group of people that were all band leaders themselves. Around 2020 I developed this composing concept, The Brainteaser Method — as I call it. (Check this video about the method – ed.). This concept worked out really well for me and the band, and our debut album – that we also called Brainteaser – even won the Deutscher Jazzpreis for Best Debut Album International. In the end, the name Brainteaser felt way more related to what we were doing than the name AM.OK. So that’s why we decided to change our name, a confirmation that this approach is our way forward!’

Creative solutions

You work with an orchestra lineup of many high-profile names in new Dutch jazz. Has it been difficult to keep the band together, because of that fact?

‘The band consists of thirteen musicians, all composers and bandleaders themselves. Obviously it has been hard to keep the band together – planning is a real pain in the ass – but somehow it always worked out! I think that all the members like playing in the band, and therefore make an effort to join all the concerts. At the same time I have to be flexible as a bandleader. Sometimes things pop up in their careers which are very important to them, while we already had a gig planned on the same day. Then I need to be open to find creative solutions to that. I think more musicians would’ve left the band earlier if I would be too strict in those situations. Though I have one rule of thumb: more than two subs is too much. Then we won’t do the gig.’

‘Obviously it has been hard to keep the band together –
planning is a real pain in the ass.’

All the Orchestra gigs that I have witnessed with great enthusiasm from the audience. Have you noticed a difference in audience perception when performing outside of The Netherlands?

‘Absolutely! I feel more excitement from the audience abroad. First of all, most of our international concerts had more audience, between 500 and 1200 people. Secondly, for the international audience this Dutch Jazz Sound is more exotic, which makes it more exciting for them. Thirdly, the audience doesn’t know all these great players in the band, so they do discovery after discovery during the concert. But I have to say, it is super, super nice to play ‘at home’. The communal feeling we got after playing in the BIMHUIS or at Transition Festival this year is something else!’

Exploring places

What did playing at festivals like Jazz sous les Pommiers, Jazzfestival Saalfelden or Jazzfestival Münster bring to your creativity, and to the Orchestra’s performance?

‘When we play abroad, at festivals like these there is a different vibe in the band, I think. Since you’re not close to home, I feel there’s more concentration on the performances. When we arrive the day before the concert it is even better. Next to that, when we are allowed to play a long set, let’s say 90 minutes, we have the chance to develop our performance more and more. With that time, we can explore places that we haven’t been able to find when we play shorter sets. That’s why I am super happy that Südtirol Jazzfestival gives us the opportunity to play a long set! All the music is quite new still, but we can already start taking exciting side paths and see where we end up!’

After six years of working with the Orchestra, where are you now in terms of recording and releasing music?

‘So, we made our Live @ BIMHUIS EP in 2020, our debut album Brainteaser and our remix album RE:Brainteaser. Now we are in the midst of recording and producing our second album that probably will be called Tonepool Paradox. This album will feature tenor saxophonist Otis Sandsjö, violinist Théo Ceccaldi and singer Lizz Wright. All people that I’ve worked with over the last year. The album will be released next summer! If anyone knows a good label for us that would be interested, let me know!’

Showcasing the brilliance

You will open Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige on June 27th with Brainteaser Orchestra, after which many Orchestra ‘splinter groups’ or soloists will be visible during the Festival. This can be seen as an interesting business model for an orchestra, if you like: buy one, get many. Have you ever considered this to happen, or did it by chance?

‘I think that festival programmer Max von Pretz came up with this, which I find such a great and smart idea! I mean, there’s no way I can showcase the brilliance of every single band member to its fullest with only one set. So the idea to bring all these great players and give them an opportunity to also play with their own groups is really nice. Also economically and ecologically it is a smart choice, you need less musicians to travel to your festival – which is really, really expensive – and the ones you bring in will deliver more artistic value. I hope we can do this more often with Brainteaser and I think in this way it would be possible to play more at other festivals in Europe that are further away from home. Bringing over such a big band costs a lot of money and therefore not many festivals or venues are keen on booking us, even though they might love our music. So this umbrella idea might be the way to go!’

‘The idea to bring all these great players and give them an opportunity
to also play with their own groups is really nice.’

‘Also, I’m doing some projects now where I go alone – bringing my method with me – and work with musicians from local scenes. From 16 to 18 October I play in Portugal with José Soares and João Clemente, for example, and from 28 to 1 November I play with the ON-Q Orchestra in Vienna, featuring Ben van Gelder and Alistair Payne.’

A few words from Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige programmer Max von Pretz

After questioning Tijn, we reached out to Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige to check the process behind the programming of Brainteaser Orchestra and their offshoots. It turns out that it was a collective decision of the festival’s artistic direction trio: Roberto Tubaro, Stefan Festini Cucco, and Max von Pretz. The latter writes: ‘We had already been discussing the idea of bringing Brainteaser Orchestra to the Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige with the three of us while it was still known as AM.OK. Last year, we saw them perform at the International Jazzfestival Saalfelden and immediately knew we wanted them to open our festival – and luckily, it all came together!

‘With sustainability in mind, and given that we are inviting such a large band from the Netherlands to South Tyrol, we wanted to create more than just a one-off performance. So we reached out to Tijn Wybenga to explore different formations within the orchestra that could continue performing in the days following the opening concert. He sent us a fantastic list of projects, and we selected as much as we could for the first festival weekend.

‘In addition to these existing formations, we also created two new projects involving musicians from the orchestra. The first is a sextet that will perform a specially commissioned piece in a large, reverberant hall just before the Brainteaser Orchestra’s official opening concert. The next day, nine musicians from the ensemble will play beneath a vintage single-seat chairlift, while the audience glides silently overhead through a stunning forest landscape. We’re incredibly excited for this opening weekend – a unique experience full of inspiring music from Brainteaser Orchestra and its brilliant artists!’

All artists from the Netherlands at Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige 2025

Friday 27 June

• Industrial Echoes (20:00 – NOI Techpark Südtirol / Alto Adige – Bolzano / Bozen)
  Pau Sola, Aleksander Sever, Kika Sprangers, Pablo Rodriguez, Yanna Pelser, Federico Calcagno
• Brainteaser Orchestra (21:00 – NOI Techpark Südtirol / Alto Adige – Bolzano / Bozen)

Saturday 28 June

• Floating Through Sound (14:00 – Chairlift Vigiljoch – Vigiljoch/Monte San Vigilio)
  Kika Sprangers, Nabou Claerhout, Yanna Pelser, George Dumitriu, Pau Sola, Teis Semey, Nicolò Ricci, Federico Calcagno, Alessandro Fongaro
• Ella Zirina Trio (15:30 – vigilius mountain resort – Vigiljoch/Monte San Vigilio)
  Ella Zirina (LV/NL) – guitar, composer, Robert Landfermann (AT) – double bass, Jamie Peet (NL) – drums
• SONIC REACTION: Ella Zirina – Kika Sprangers (19:15 – SJF Infopoint Waaghaus – Bozen/Bolzano)
• Alessandro Fongaro’s Pietre (21:00 – Stadtbibliothek Brixen / Biblioteca Civica Bressanone – Brixen/Bressanone)
  Alessandro Fongaro, Nicolò Ricci, Federico Calcagno, Sun-Mi Hong (KR) – drums
• Niels Broos X Jamie Peet (21:00 – Piazza Waltherplatz – Bozen / Bolzano)
  Niels Broos (NL) – keys, Jamie Peet (NL) – drums
• Raw Fish (23:00 -Batzen Sudwerk Ca’ de Bezzi / Bozen / Bolzano + PRIDE Afterparty)
  Teis Semey (DK) – guitar, mpc, Giovanni Iacovella (IT) – drums, electronics

Sunday 29 June

• JAZZ FOR KIDS – Nabou Claerhout & Lynn Cassiers Klangkeuken (14:00 – Fortress Fortezza / Franzensfeste – Franzensfeste / Fortezza)
  Nabou Claerhout (BE) – trombone, Lynn Cassiers (BE) – trombone, electronics
• Reinier Baas Solo (15:00 – Climate Gallery Prettau – Prettau/Predoi)
  Reinier Baas (NL) – guitar

More information on suedtiroljazzfestival.com

Text by Mark van Schaick
Photos by Maarten Nauw and Rosita Stumpel Breuer