Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Kurt Maas Award Builds Bridge with Berklee

15/11/2023

Kurt Maas Award Builds Bridge with Berklee Now in its 10th year, the biennial competition honors the legacy of Maas 65. The top prize is a scholarship to Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive.

By

Kimberly Ashton

November 14, 2023

Ivan Lins (left) and Marco Pignataro (right) at the Kurt Maas Jazz Award concert.

Image by George Giakis

Marco Pignataro recalls being in the audience this summer when German jazz guitarist Elias Prinz and his trio took the stage at Munich's Isarphilharmonie concert hall. Prinz, a 23-year-old student at the Jazz Institute at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, had just won first place in the institute's renowned Kurt Maas Jazz Award competition, and his set followed high-octane jazz displays by the competition's second- and third-place winners. But as Prinz settled in and began strumming his opening chords, the tone of the evening shifted.

When he started playing, I was like, What? What is this?' says Pignataro, the artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI). And then I was like, Oh, wait a second. This is really special. In contrast to the performances earlier in the evening, Prinz's music was intimate and unusual, influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt.

I felt he was bringing something not just that he loves but that he identifies [with] in a way that was extremely convincing, Pignataro says. So it wasn't like hearing something nostalgic from the past. To me, he made that music really in-the-moment. He made it very relevant. After the set, he says, the audience went crazy. [Prinz] was playing in a way that everybody could really connect with the emotions it was how musical he was, how brilliantly expressive he was with his own music.

As first-place winner, Prinz earned a full scholarship to Berklee's Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive this past summer. Now in its 10th year, the biennial competition honors the legacy of Kurt Maas 65, a jazz pioneer who for years was the exclusive distributor of Berklee publications in Germany and who founded and developed the Jazz Institute in Munich.

He was the guy who started academic jazz education in Munich, says Camilo Dornier 81, who confounded the award with institute chair Claus Reichstaller and funds the prizes.

The Elias Prinz Trio plays at the Kurt Maas Award competition ceremony.

Image by Gregory Giakis

In the late '70s, Dornier had been a student of classical music when he took a noncredit class for jazz enthusiasts that Maas taught. On Maas's recommendation, Dornier came to Berklee to further explore jazz.

When Maas died in 2011, Dornier wanted to find a way to honor him. The following year, he and Reichstaller came to Boston, where Abraham Laboriel Sr., B.M. 72. 05H connected them with then-President Roger Brown, who liked their idea for the Kurt Maas Jazz Award.

Now, as Dornier and Reichstaller eye the future, they are working to expand the award program. Two years ago, they began developing partnerships with two Brazilian schools, including Berklee academic partner Faculdade e Conservat rio Souza Lima, and now offer scholarships that send two Brazilian students to Munich for four weeks. This year, part of the award ceremony concert was dedicated to Ivan Lins, a superstar of Brazilian music who, along with Pignataro, performed as a special guest artist.

In addition to building out the Brazilian program, Dornier and Reichstaller are looking to deepen the institute's involvement with Berklee. Their goal is to offer first-place winners a semester at Berklee, and possibly to develop a student and faculty exchange. Pignataro says such a program would be valuable not only for the Munich institute but also for the BGJI.

The possibilty of benefitting from such an exchange was one of the reasons Prinz took part in the competition, which is open only to Jazz Institute students. He had been playing guitar since he was 5 and studying Reinhardt since the age of 12, and wanted to come to Berklee to deepen his knowledge of other jazz genres.

He arrived in Boston freshly graduated from the Jazz Institute in Munich, but he still found a level at Five-Week that was well-suited to him. I can improve [upon] everything I learned the last four years. And because it's so intensive, I feel like I learned very, very quickly, he says. After the program, Prinz returned to Germany to work on his first album. In the meantime, he'll continue to play in Munich and share his influences from Berklee.

It's this type of sharing and enrichment that will keep jazz alive, Dornier says. I think we have to be aware that jazz on the global scale is a very small, tiny percentage of music. To be strong, to keep this whole thing running, we have to think internationally, we have to cooperate, we have to exchange, and we have to work together.

Related Categories

Berklee Today

News

Most Popular

Elena Pinderhughes

Image courtesy of the artist

Berklee Announces 2023 Fall Signature Series Lineup This years series will feature Elena Pinderhughes, Braxton Cook, Pavel N ez, and the Pletenitsa Balkan Choir, as well as a career-spanning tribute to Madonna.

Latest

Taylor Swifts Eras Tour film was a blockbuster at the box office in October, setting the stage for a larger trend in the music and movie industries.

Photo by Getty Images

Beyonc , Taylor Swift, and the Soaring Popularity of Concert Films Ralph Jaccodine of Berklee's Music Business/Management Department delves into the recent concert film phenomenon and its future trajectory.

From left: Andreea Gleeson, Tonya Butler, Hayley Roets

Image by Sam French

Berklee Honors TuneCore CEO at Annual Music Business Lecture Andreea Gleeson was the featured guest at the 30th Annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series.

Elen
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/kurt-maas-award-builds-bridge...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

07/08/2026

Lawo To Highlight Dynamic Media Facility Support At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

MediaKind To Feature Unified Product Portfolio At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

ACT Entertainment Honored with Neutrik Group Americas Par...

The Award Recognizes ACT's Outstanding Sales Performance, Marketing Collaboration and Long-standing Commitment to the NEUTRIK Brand ACT Entertainment, one ...

07/08/2026

Beamr Brings NVIDIA Video Super Resolution to Live Sports...

Beamr Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: BMR), a leader in video optimization technology and solutions, today announced it is bringing AI upscaling to live sports, broadcast...

07/08/2026

Berklee City Music Presents Nine Scholarships and Awards at Annual Concert

Berklee City Music Presents Nine Scholarships and Awards at Annual Concert Student recipients from seven states and Canada received scholarships, housing awar...

07/08/2026

Lawo To Highlights Dynamic Media Facility Support At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

Kevin Trueblood to Return as SBE President

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

Riedel To Demo 'Live Production Experience At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

LTN Enhances Live Event Master Control Capabilities

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

AI-Native Film Studio Launches in Toronto

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

Judge Orders Removal of Nexstar Employees from Tegna Board

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/08/2026

Riedel Communications at IBC2026 Live Production Experien...

Riedel Communications at IBC2026: Live Production Experience Showcasing Integrated IP Production Workflows At IBC2026, Riedel Communications will bring modern ...

07/08/2026

Shotoku Showcases Expanding Aura PTZ Ecosystem and Award-...

Shotoku Showcases Expanding Aura PTZ Ecosystem and Award-Winning Swoop Robotic Crane at IBC2026 Shotoku Broadcast Systems will officially introduce its Aura fa...

07/08/2026

Cobalt Digital to Bring New and Enhanced Practical Soluti...

Highlights will include new Dante fiber connectivity, expanded IPMX capabilities and award-winning signal processing solutions Cobalt Digital, the leading des...

07/08/2026

Bob Moses Concert at Red Rocks Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF

Bob Moses Concert at Red Rocks Captured with URSA Cine 12K LF Brie Clayton August 6, 2026 0 Comments PYXIS 12K and URSA Cine 12K LF enable cinematic c...

07/08/2026

Use It or Else Is Not an AI Implementation Strategy

Use It or Else Is Not an AI Implementation Strategy Andy Marken August 6, 2026 0 Comments Source - Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe, Touchstone Pi...

07/08/2026

Commission accelerates IRIS deployment with enhanced security and expanded satellites network

On 6 August, the European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium concluded nego...

07/08/2026

A date worth betraying your plans for The Traitors Ireland returns to screens Sunday, 30 August

The Traitors Ireland Uncloaked is also back with all the behind the scenes drama...

06/08/2026

USA Sports Rolls Into 2026 NASCAR Season With First Pace-Car Analyst on Selected Races

The broadcaster's 14-race schedule begins in Iowa and ends in November with ...

06/08/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 25: Chicago Bears Katlin Strange - Serving the Masses in the Windy City

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

06/08/2026

Warner Bros Discovery's Anne Graham Details the Organization's Media-Ops and Metadata Consolidation Across Sports and Entertainment

As media organizations consolidate teams, technology platforms, and content libr...

06/08/2026

Dolby Vision 2 Begins Rollout on Selected 2026 Hisense TVs

Firmware updates introduce Dolby's next-generation picture engine, content-aware optimization, and new motion and ambient-light tools...

06/08/2026

TNT Sports Preps Wall-to-Wall Coverage of FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 from Sept. 4-13

TNT Sports will have wall-to-wall coverage of the upcoming FIBA Women's Bask...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Introduces groundSwXtch Software-Defined Multicast Overlay

swXtch.io (Stand 5.MR13) has unveiled groundSwXtch for Audio over IP (AoIP), a software application that lets broadcasters and media organizations move audio in...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: Riedel Communications Showcases Integrated IP Production Workflows

At IBC2026, Riedel Communications (Stands: 10.A24, 10.A31, 10.A38) will bring modern media production to life with the Live Production Experience - a connected ...

06/08/2026

Sandy Grossman's Legacy as a Pioneering Director Earns Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award

The first live-sports director to receive the prestigious honor, eight-time Emmy...

06/08/2026

NBC Sports, Maryland Jockey Club Continue Partnership To Present Preakness Stakes Through 2032

NBC Sports will continue to present the Preakness Stakes on NBC and Peacock thro...

06/08/2026

IBC 2026: Cobalt Digital Brings New Practical Solutions to Evolving Broadcast Workflows

Cobalt Digital (Stand 8.F90) continues to reinforce its commitment to delivering...

06/08/2026

Wave Central Elevates Jeff Daubert to Director of Sales, Americas

Wave Central has promoted promotion Jeff Daubert to Director of Sales, Americas. In his expanded role, Daubert will lead Wave Central's sales strategy and ...

06/08/2026

KMH Integration Adds Architect Keith Hanadel to Expanding Full-Services Team

KMH Integration is expanding its ability to serve media, broadcast, and IT organizations by adding Keith Hanadel, an accomplished architect with decades of indu...

06/08/2026

Advanced Systems Group Promotes Michele Ferreira to Chief Business Officer

Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has promoted Michele Ferreira from Vice President of its Systems Integration team to the newly created position of Chief Business O...

06/08/2026

IBC2026: Appear Expands X, VX Platforms for Hybrid Live-Production Workflows

Demonstrations will include new JPEG XS, Dolby audio, cloud-gateway, stream-processing, and distribution capabilities...

06/08/2026

Live Media Group Acquires Gravity Media's U.S. Mobile-Production Assets, Adds Eight Units to Fleet

The deal includes three premium mobile units, engineering personnel, existing br...

06/08/2026

Broadcast Management Group, LiveU Power Vertical REMI Production for Amazon Prime's Obsessed Fest on TikTok

Broadcast Management Group produced Amazon Prime's inaugural Obsessed Fest a...

06/08/2026

IBC2026: Ikegami to Showcase Expanded UNICAM Camera and Monitoring Lineup

Exhibit will feature new variable-ND functionality, OLED viewfinders, remote-camera tools, and UHD production monitors...

06/08/2026

Sony Introduces FE 100-400mm Super-Telephoto Zoom Lens

Compact full-frame E-mount lens targets sports, wildlife, and other long-range shooting applications...

06/08/2026

Tennis Channel Lands Exclusive U.S. Coverage of 2026 International Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Live broadcast will honor Roger Federer and Mary Carillo on Aug. 29, with onsite...

06/08/2026

UTEP Upgrades Sun Bowl Stadium Video Display With Daktronics

End-zone board receives higher-resolution LED technology and an updated Show Control system ahead of the 2026 football season...

06/08/2026

Fender launch Fender Motion controllers

New 16- and 32-pad MIDI controllers now available Fender have just announced that the two new performance-focused controllers that were unveiled at NAMM 202...

06/08/2026

Lewitt update Space Replicator plug-in

Standalone version, performance improvements & more Lewitt have just released a significant update for their speaker and room virtualisation software, intro...

06/08/2026

Hallowed Bells from ebbandflow

Combines celeste samples with synth engine After launching earlier in 2026 with deFORM, ebbandflow have returned with their first sampled acoustic instrumen...

06/08/2026

SGL Carbon: Still on track to meet its 2026 annual targets

SGL Carbon's consolidated sales in the first half of 2026 totaled 394.2 million, down 13.0% from the prior year (H1 2025: 453.2 million). On the one hand,...

06/08/2026

BritBox & BBC's Poirot Origin Series Hercule' Reveals Cast

The BBC has announced casting for the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited. Joining Bluemel are Henry Ashton (A ...

06/08/2026

FCC Votes to Modify TV Station Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/08/2026

LTN Showcases Live Event Master Control Capabilities for...

Proven offering builds on more than 20,000 live sporting events with greater automation, flexibility, and operational control LTN , the industry leader in tran...

06/08/2026

Hornets Tech brings new encoder and decoder range to IBC2...

Hornets Tech, a specialist in broadcast connectivity and IP video, is bringing a new range of encoders, decoders and an IPTV platform to IBC2026. Broadcast in...

06/08/2026

Introducing Adobe for ChatGPT: Create, edit and get work done - all in ChatGPT

Introducing Adobe for ChatGPT: Create, edit and get work done - all in ChatGPT Deepti Pradeep August 6, 2026 0 Comments The Adobe plugin in ChatGPT br...