Touch Point - a trans-alpine jazz project

What happens when a well-established Italian jazz pianist, an up-and-coming young Swiss composer, and a sweeping big band come together? It creates a musical triangle, a ‘Touch Point’ which fascinates the audience with its diversity of sound! The first time the composer and arranger Matthias Wenger heard Enrico Pieranunzi’s “Seaward”, it cast a spell on him. He arranged the piece for big band. The Big Band of the University of Bern was enthralled with the piece and soon the idea to develop a program, together with Enrico Pieranunzi, emerged. The pianist Pieranunzi was intrigued by the idea of a joint project, and pleased with the arrangement of his piece: the transalpine jazz project TOUCH POINT was born. The Uni Big Band opens the two sets of the concert and then dedicates itself to Pieranunzi’s music. The pianist plays his original compositions and is accompanied by the Uni Big Band. Matthias Wenger’s arrangements complement and weave into Pieranunzis’ playing. The Big Band broadens the spectrum of Pieranunzi’s pieces (which, in many cases, were originally written for small formations) without changing their individual character or the message they convey.