24 - 25 September 2026
Milano Jazz Vibes
Filodrammatici Theatre | Paolo Ferrari Square, 6, 20121 Milan
Nordic Jazz festival
Milano Jazz Vibes
Milano Jazz Vibes brings Nordic Jazz to the heart of Milan, Italy, with two carefully curated evenings in an intimate format and of high artistic intensity.
The festival presents some of the most original voices on the contemporary European jazz scene, in a sonic journey that moves through composition, improvisation, timbral exploration, the expressive use of silence and echoes of the ECM aesthetic.
Milano Jazz Vibes is a musical and cultural platform dedicated to Nordic Jazz, born from the collaboration between Estonian musician and concert organiser Oleg Pissarenko and Italian entrepreneur Paolo Michelozzi, with the aim of creating a bridge between Northern Europe and Milan through concerts, artistic encounters and new trajectories in contemporary jazz. An initiative designed to offer audiences a close listening experience, built around artistic quality, curatorial care and the communicative power of the contemporary Nordic sound.
The 2026 programme explores key territories of the Nordic scene: the dialogue between piano, guitar and electronics created by Kristjan Randalu and Eivind Aarset; the suspended poetics of the Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen and Jorge Rossy trio, formed around the ECM project Uma Elmo, recorded in Lugano and produced by Manfred Eicher; the intense, luminous voice of Aili Ikonen, winner of the 2025 Yrjö Prize; and the two-piano encounter between Holger Marjamaa and Joel Lyssarides, two artists capable of combining virtuosity, lyricism and emotional depth.
Two evenings to discover Nordic Jazz in the heart of Milan
In an intimate, intense and deeply communicative setting.
DAY 1
Thursday, 24 September 2026
Filodrammatici Theatre | Paolo Ferrari Square, 6, 20121 Milan
Kristjan Randalu & Eivind Aarset
Estonia / Norway
Jakob Bro 'Uma Elmo'
feat. Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy
Denmark / Norway / Spain
The first evening opens a journey into contemporary Nordic and European jazz, moving through piano, guitar, electronics, timbral exploration and echoes of the ECM aesthetic. Kristjan Randalu and Eivind Aarset create a suspended, visionary dialogue in which structure, space and freedom meet in a space of deep listening.
The evening continues with Jakob Bro “Uma Elmo” feat. Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy, a trio released by ECM Records and recorded in Lugano with production by Manfred Eicher. Chamber-like, lyrical and spacious music, shaped by silence, mutual listening and emotional depth.
DAY 2
Friday, 25 September 2026
Filodrammatici Theatre | Paolo Ferrari Square, 6, 20121 Milan
Aili Ikonen
Finland
Holger Marjamaa & Joel Lyssarides
Estonia / Sweden
The second evening places voice and piano at the centre — two essential dimensions of contemporary Nordic jazz.
Aili Ikonen, one of the most charismatic voices in Finnish jazz today and winner of the 2025 Yrjö Prize, brings to Milan elegant and direct music that combines precision, emotion and improvisational freedom. She will be joined by Joonas Haavisto on piano, Ville Herrala on double bass and Mikko Arlin on drums.
The festival closes with a two-piano encounter between Holger Marjamaa and Joel Lyssarides: two distinct yet complementary pianistic worlds, suspended between energy, virtuosity, lyricism and improvisation.
Nordic jazz days
But what exactly is Nordic?
What does jazz sound like up there?
Thursday, 24 September 2026
Filodrammatici Theatre | Paolo Ferrari Square, 6, 20121 Milan
7:00 PM
Kristjan Randalu & Eivind Aarset
Estonia / Norway
8:30 PM
Jakob Bro 'Uma Elmo' feat. Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy
Denmark / Norway / Spain
Friday, 25 September 2026
Filodrammatici Theatre | Paolo Ferrari Square, 6, 20121 Milan
7:00 PM
Aili Ikonen
Finland
8:30 PM
Holger Marjamaa & Joel Lyssarides
Estonia / Sweden
More about artists
Kristjan Randalu & Eivind Aarset
Two Nordic Visions Between Jazz, Electronics and Improvisation
Estonia / Norway
Milano Jazz Vibes presents an exceptional Nordic encounter: Estonian pianist and composer Kristjan Randalu and Norwegian guitarist and composer Eivind Aarset — two internationally acclaimed artists whose music moves across the borders of jazz, classical music, electronic soundscapes and free improvisation.
Kristjan Randalu is regarded as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. Herbie Hancock has called him “a dazzling piano player”. An ECM artist, Randalu gained wide international recognition with his album Absence; he has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals and concert halls, and collaborated with leading musicians such as David Liebman, Trygve Seim, Dhafer Youssef, Ari Hoenig, Nils Petter Molvær, Nguyên Lê, Ambrose Akinmusire and Gilad Hekselman. His discography includes more than 55 albums, among them a Grammy-nominated recording; in Estonia, he has been awarded Jazz Artist of the Year and Jazz Composer of the Year.
Eivind Aarset is one of the most influential and immediately recognizable voices in contemporary Norwegian electric guitar. His debut album Electronique Noire was described by The New York Times as one of the finest post-Miles electric jazz albums. A central figure in the development of Nordic electronic jazz, Aarset has collaborated with international visionaries including Nils Petter Molvær, Jan Garbarek, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Laurie Anderson, Bill Laswell, Tigran Hamasyan, Marilyn Mazur, Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen and Dhafer Youssef. His extensive discography as a leader reveals a rare ability to combine intimate sensitivity, hypnotic grooves, electronic landscapes and electric intensity.
The meeting of these two artists creates an extraordinary synergy on stage: Randalu’s architectural and virtuosic piano language meets Aarset’s spatial, electronically expanded guitar universe. This is a concert where Nordic precision, depth and freedom become a living soundscape — at once quiet and powerful, intellectual and emotional, contemporary and timeless.
Jakob Bro 'Uma Elmo' feat. Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy
Denmark / Norway / Spain
Milano Jazz Vibes presents an internationally acclaimed trio: Danish guitarist Jakob Bro, Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, three leading figures in contemporary European jazz brought together in the project Uma Elmo.
Released by ECM Records in 2021 and produced by Manfred Eicher, Uma Elmo was recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano. The album sessions marked the first musical encounter between Bro, Henriksen and Rossy, resulting in a trio of surprising cohesion. Recorded not far from Milan, Uma Elmo now returns, in a sense, close to the place where this music first took shape.
Jakob Bro is one of the most poetic voices in contemporary European jazz guitar: his suspended, luminous and deeply melodic sound belongs to one of the most refined strands of the contemporary ECM aesthetic, shaped by Nordic landscapes, silence and improvisation.
Arve Henriksen is one of the most distinctive trumpeters on the European scene, capable of transforming the trumpet into a whispered, lyrical and instantly recognisable voice. His poetic sound is also known through his work for ECM, from the album Cartography to collaborations with Trio Mediaeval, Tigran Hamasyan and other projects on the label.
Jorge Rossy, long-standing member of Brad Mehldau’s first trio and collaborator of artists such as Charlie Haden, Wayne Shorter, Lee Konitz, Carla Bley and Joe Lovano, brings to the trio a rare rhythmic sensitivity built on listening, space and lightness.
Uma Elmo is music of depth, transparency and intense concentration. A bass-less trio in which guitar, trumpet and drums do not simply create accompaniment, but form a shifting soundscape: suspended lines, breaths, echoes, silences and improvisations that seem to emerge in the moment.
At Milano Jazz Vibes, Bro, Henriksen and Rossy bring one of the most refined experiences in contemporary European jazz: music that does not seek immediate effect, but opens a space for deep, poetic and memorable listening.
Aili Ikonen
The luminous voice of Finnish jazz
Finland
Milano Jazz Vibes presents one of the most charismatic and refined voices in Nordic jazz: Finnish singer and composer Aili Ikonen, joined by an outstanding trio featuring Joonas Haavisto on piano, Ville Herrala on double bass and Mikko Arlin on drums.
Aili Ikonen is known for a voice that immediately draws listeners in — warm, expressive, intense and deeply communicative. Her musical world brings together jazz, the singer-songwriter tradition, folk influences and cinematic atmospheres, creating a personal language of elegance, emotional depth and subtle nuance.
In 2025, Ikonen received the prestigious Yrjö Prize from the Finnish Jazz Federation, one of the highest honours in Finnish jazz. Over a career spanning more than twenty years, she has performed the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Finnish jazz standards and songs written especially for her, establishing herself as one of the most versatile and beloved vocal artists in Northern Europe.
She has released five solo albums, including Laulan, Piirrä minut, Suru ei oo suora viiva, Helposti palavaa and Valo, recorded with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. She has also collaborated with major orchestras and ensembles such as UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Norrbotten Big Band and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2018, she has been a member of the acclaimed vocal ensemble Rajaton, and since 2024 she has served as artistic director of the Oulu Elojazz Festival.
At Milano Jazz Vibes, Aili Ikonen brings a quartet where the power of the voice meets the sensitivity of Nordic jazz: lyricism, improvisation, emotional depth and natural sonic elegance.
Holger Marjamaa & Joel Lyssarides
Two great masters of Nordic piano jazz
Denmark / Norway / Spain
Milano Jazz Vibes presents a meeting of two outstanding voices in contemporary Nordic jazz: Estonian pianist Holger Marjamaa and Swedish pianist Joel Lyssarides. Two distinct yet complementary artists, united by a rare ability to transform the piano into a space of energy, poetry and deeply personal expression.
Holger Marjamaa, a Yamaha Piano Artist, is one of Estonia’s most internationally acclaimed jazz pianists. Based in New York, he has performed at some of the world’s leading clubs and festivals, including Blue Note New York, Blue Note Tokyo, Dizzy’s Club / Lincoln Center, Monterey Jazz Festival, Seoul Jazz Festival and Blue Note Jazz Cruise. From 2019 to 2023, he toured with Grammy-winning trumpeter Chris Botti and has collaborated with artists such as Lee Ritenour, Robben Ford, Lizz Wright, David Kikoski and Lonnie Liston Smith. Winner of the Grand Prix at the International Jazz Piano Competition in Vilnius, semifinalist at the Thelonious Monk / Herbie Hancock Jazz Piano Competition and named Jazz Musician of the Year in Estonia, Marjamaa combines virtuosity, swing, elegance and powerful stage energy.
Joel Lyssarides is one of the most poetic and distinctive voices in contemporary Swedish jazz. His recordings have surpassed 100 million streams, confirming the universal appeal of music that is intimate, intense and deeply emotional. For Lyssarides, jazz is not a stylistic formula but a personal language shaped by nuance, silence, subtle harmony and a crystal-clear piano sound. A collaborator of Nils Landgren and part of the e.s.t. tribute project with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström, Lyssarides has found in the piano trio the most authentic centre of his musical universe. His new album Late on Earth reveals a sincere and deeply human music, where beauty also emerges from small imperfections and the fragility of the moment.
Together, Holger Marjamaa and Joel Lyssarides represent two souls of contemporary Nordic piano jazz: Marjamaa brings brilliant energy, a New York jazz sensibility and rhythmic power; Lyssarides brings lyrical depth, sonic transparency and emotional intensity.
Their meeting at Milano Jazz Vibes is a dialogue between two great masters of Northern Europe — a concert in which the piano becomes landscape, inner narrative and pure jazz vibration.
Welcome
Milano Jazz Vibes brings Nordic Jazz to the heart of Milan:
two evenings to discover the refined, intense and visionary sound of contemporary nordic jazz.
A CULTURAL PLATFORM FOR NORDIC JAZZ
Milano Jazz Vibes was created from Oleg’s vision as a musical and cultural platform connecting Milan with the jazz scenes of Northern Europe.
Oleg Pissarenko
Artistic director
“A concert is a shared space: a meeting between those who create, those who perform and those who listen. In jazz, this relationship comes alive through sound, silence, improvisation and mutual attention.”
Estonian musician, composer and artistic director Oleg Pissarenko is the founder and driving force behind Milano Jazz Vibes. His vision comes from the desire to create an intimate and carefully curated space in Milan dedicated to contemporary Nordic Jazz: not just a series of concerts, but a deep listening experience designed to connect musicians, audience and place.
Through Milano Jazz Vibes, Oleg builds a musical and cultural bridge between Northern Europe and Milan, bringing to the city artists who explore new trajectories in European jazz through composition, improvisation, timbral research and a special sensitivity to silence.
The festival reflects a long-term vision: to create a cultural platform dedicated to the contemporary Nordic sound, built around artistic quality, curatorial care and a direct relationship between performers and listeners.