Karima , Gregory Privat, Federico Malaman, Fulvio Sigurtà, Eleonora Strino, and Ava Alami are the special guests of the new 2026 edition of European Jazz’s cool, the artistic residency for advanced jazz promoted by the Saint Louis College of Music and the Saint Louis Study Center, with the support of MiBaC – FUS (Fondo Unico dello Spettacolo) and the European Erasmus+ program.
European Jazz’s Cool is a unique project in the European scene that combines training, artistic production and the promotion of contemporary jazz, offering young musicians and composers the opportunity to engage with great performers from the international scene.
European Jazz’s cool, since its first edition in 2021, has been promoting the establishment of new musical groups formed by young European and Italian talents, characterized by the presence as leader of the ensemble of a distinguished special guest.
From Sept. 7 to 13, 2026, the classrooms of Saint Louis in Rome will become a creative campus, during which six new ensembles of very young musicians from Italian and European conservatories will be trained and guided in the creation of original music and the production of live performances by an extraordinary team of internationally established artists of the 2026 edition:
- Ava Alami – An Italian-Iranian jazz singer and pianist, with her quintet she has released one album on the New York label La Reserve and one, “The Secret Life of Plants,” featuring pianist Dado Moroni.
- Karima – Jazz-soul singer from Livorno, the first and only Italian artist produced by Burt Bacharach, with whom she recorded her album Karima in Los Angeles.
- Federico Malaman – Bassist and electric double bass player among the most virtuosic and followed in Italy, with collaborations ranging from Elio e le storie tese to Mario Biondi.
- Gregory Privat – Martinican jazz pianist and winner of the Django Reinhardt Award from the Academy of Jazz 2024, former member of Lars Danielsson’s Liberetto quartet for the ACT label.
- Fulvio Sigurtà – Jazz trumpeter with a master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music in London, awarded “Best New Talent” at the 2012 Italian Top Jazz and with a leading discography for Cam Jazz.
- Eleonora Strino – Jazz guitarist, first woman to be a member of the legendary trio The Great Guitarists (founded by Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd and Herb Ellis), with cover on Jazz Guitar Today and album for Cam Jazz.
European Jazz’s Cool 2026 takes the form of a high-impact educational and cultural project aimed at creating an international network for the promotion of contemporary European jazz. An experience of comparison, exchange and growth for the participants, who will have the opportunity to experience a complete professional journey: from composition to performance, from record production to digital distribution.
INTERNATIONAL PROJECT PARTNERS
European Jazz’s cool 2026 relies on the collaboration of prestigious European conservatories and institutes, which will host the concerts of the ensembles’ European tour in November and December 2026, thus helping to promote the artistic products created during the residency.
For the 2026 edition, the partner institutions are:
European Jazz’s Cool aims, through the creation of a full-immersion Artistic Residency, at the establishment of new musical groups, made up of young European talents, young Italian talents and internationally renowned special guest artists who will guide the young musicians along a path of composition and production of original music of transnational European matrix.
During the week-long residency, the musicians will take part in intensive workshops, writing and arranging workshops, rehearsals and live performances. Each ensemble will be joined directly by one of the resident artists, with whom they will work on producing new original musical works. The residency will culminate with an open rehearsal and evening concert on the stage of the Casa del Jazz in Rome.
The project will then continue in November and December 2026 with an international tour, which will take the ensembles to perform 1 or 2 concerts in partner countries, thanks to collaboration with institutions of excellence such as the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, the Royal Academy of Music of Aarhus Aalborg, and the Metropolia University of Helsinki.
A true social and artistic experiment, in which the musician of choice will select the members of his or her own ensemble, with whom he or she will then create a new musical work, produced, recorded and produced by the Jazz Collection record label, and promoted by the Saint Louis management agency, which will take care of the digital publication and subsequent writing of the musicians and concert promotion in Italian and foreign jazz festivals.
The Call is aimed at a nationwide search for young jazz musicians, who want to enrich their experience in a project of international relevance, for the following instruments:
Voice / Piano / Guitar / Bass / Contrabass / Drums / Sax / Trumpet / Trombone / Violin.
The Call is also aimed at Jazz Composers.
Learn more about European Jazz’s c cool 2026 call for applications and submit your application by June 30, 2026.
selection process completed
The European Jazz’s Cool project is supported by MiBac under the “FUS – Fondo Unico Spettacolo” and Erasmus+.
