FUCHSTHONE ORCHESTRA #7: Evi Filippou

2025 is the year of new beginnings: a "right now!" in difficult local and global political times. To this end, the Fuchsthone Orchestra has invited the young and brilliant vibraphonist and percussionist Evi Filippou for the fall tour.

The FUCHSTHONE ORCHESTRA is anything but a conventional big band. With the two masterminds Caroline Thon and Christina Fuchs at the helm and a line-up expanded to include violin, vocals and electronics, the 22 award-winning musicians represent the state of the art of contemporary large jazz ensembles. In the bandleaders' compositions, brute tutti passages and brass voicings à la Maria Schneider are followed by moments of silence, interspersed with collective improvisations by smaller sub-units of the band. An impressive musical experience that makes full use of the diverse timbres and combination possibilities of the instruments involved.

Since its foundation in 2019, the FUCHSTHONE ORCHESTRA has established itself as one of the leading, innovative large ensembles in Germany. In 2021, they were nominated for the German Jazz Award. In 2023, they released their debut album "Structures & Beauty" on ENJA Records and were celebrated by audiences on their release tour. In 2024, the ensemble broke new ground by inviting a guest, media artist Claudia Schmitz, for the first time and with the compositions tailored to "Live Moving Images" they have catapulted themselves into multidimensionality through another genre! This spring, they have been nominated for the German Jazz Award in the "Large Ensemble of the Year" category for the second time.

The next guest is already lined up for autumn 2025: the young, brilliant vibraphonist and percussionist Evi Filippou will inspire and instrumentally enrich the orchestra's new program. The tour in November will be followed in December 2025 by the studio recording for the FUCHSTHONE ORCHESTRA's second album, which is expected to be released in 2026.

Rich in textures, brilliant arrangements and solo highlights, the FUCHSTHONE ORCHESTRA fascinates, clairvoyantly anchored in the present and at the same time visionary for the future. Rousing and touching, urgent and challenging. The more than 20 musicians, many of whom have won awards and have been present on the jazz scene for a long time, make up this sovereign ensemble, which impressively transports you to new worlds.