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21 October 2025, at 7:00 p.m., Multicultural Centre, Transilvania University of Brașov

The success of the previous editions of Chamber Jazz @ Transilvania University cultural programme brings the pianist Lucian Ban and the violist Mat Maneri, this time together with the Italian clarinettist Marco Colonna and the American drummer Gerald Cleaver back on the stage of the Multicultural Centre of Transilvania University, in an event concert which opens the tenth season.

The internationally prestigious quartet will render, through jazz and improvisation, the essence of the Transylvanian folk songs collected by the composer Béla Bartók, thus reimagining their story and reviving the peasants’ voices recorded on wax cylinders more than a hundred years ago.

The tandem of the Romanian-American pianist Lucian Ban and of the American violist Mat Maneri is known and appreciated all over the world for the deep melange between folklore and improvisation, for the recontextualizations between classical music and jazz, but also for the strive to outline an ideal of chamber jazz. The publication Financial Times describes “the complex interweaving between the unique sound of Mat Maneri’s viola and Lucian Ban’s amply resonant piano as a delight of contemporary jazz for more than a decade”.

The story of the reimagined Transylvanian songs began a few years ago, within Retracing Bartók, a project under which Lucian Ban together with Mat Maneri and Alin Rotariu started an extensive cultural archaeology approach, through a series of workshops, concerts, an interdisciplinary exhibition and tours around the world. The albums Transylvanian Folk Songs (Sunnyside, 2020), Transylvanian Dance (ECM 2024) and Cantica Profana (Sunnyside, 2025), but also, as a world first, the LP The Athenaeum Concert have been released so far, with the last of them being recorded right on the big stage of the Romanian Athenaeum. All these record releases enjoy the praise of the international press across both America and Europe.

Gerald Cleaver, born in Detroit, has significantly contributed to defining the jazz drumming sound for the past three decades. Highly appreciated for his versatile style that naturally blends the jazz tradition with avant-garde improvisation, Gerald grew up in the city’s complex musical tradition, was inspired by his father, a drummer in his turn, and gained early experience alongside great local jazz artists, such as Marcus Belgrave and Donald Walden.After graduating from the University of Michigan, in 2002 he moved to New York, where he has successfully collaborated with the most influential personalities of contemporary jazz. All along his career, he has worked with a wide range of musicians in terms of both style and genre, proving his artistic naturalness in the contexts of hard bop and free jazz alike. Cleaver also leads several famous projects, such as the expressive group Violet Hour, the avant-garde Black Host and the collaborative trio Farmers By Nature, together with William Parker and Craig Taborn. In recent years, he has overcome his creative limits, by exploring electronic music through solo albums such as Signs and Griots, and thus expressed his bold approach to sound and composition. This continuous evolution, crowning his deep musical roots, has enhanced his reputation as a vital force in modern creative music.

Marco Colonna, born in Rome, in 1978, is a world-renowned musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser, particularly famous for his mastery of the bass clarinet. His musical style is at the intersection of jazz, free improvisation, avant-rock and contemporary musical language, being appreciated by critics, in valuable magazines, such as Musica Jazz and Jazzwise, as “fascinating” and “ingenious”. He has mostly devoted himself to exploring the sound possibilities of the bass clarinet, influenced by maestro Harry Sparnaay and by Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s iconic figure. All along his career, for about two decades, Colonna has collaborated with many prestigious musicians, such as Alexander Hawkins, Agustí Fernandez, Andrew Cyrille, Roberto Ottaviano and Evan Parker, sealing his reputation as an eclectic and creative artist. Apart from the group projects, such as the trio Noise Of Trouble or the collaboration with Alexander Hawkins in his tribute to Eric Dolphy, he has also released several solo albums, including Terra and Second Coming, in which he explores themes of nature, history and human experience. His unique approach, combining local folk music with jazz elements and contemporary musical language, has brought him international recognition, as he was invited to participate in prestigious festivals, such as La Biennale di Venezia and European Jazz Conference.

We will be therefore waiting for you on Tuesday, 21 October 2025, starting at 7:00 p.m., at the Multicultural Centre of Transilvania University (29 Eroilor Blvd.). The entrance is free, within the limit of available places.