Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab
A competition between a master class and a sponsorship award for young jazz musicians who are on the threshold of a professional career. After the successful first edition in 2021 and 109 bands taking part in the competition in 2025, we are again looking forward to the “Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab” in 2026.
For many young artists, entering the music business is riddled with obstacles. Besides talent and luck, it needs an enormous amount of energy, perseverance, persistence, and time, to get the proverbial foot in the door. The Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab wants to make this step a bit easier for motivated young talents.
The Winners
Scannapieco-Geremia 5et
Gegründet im Jahr 2024 aus einer Idee zweier Freunde, spiegelt die Identität des Quintetts die musikalischen Einflüsse wider, die die beiden Gründer über die Jahre geprägt haben. Inspiriert sind sie vor allem von den Hardbop-Grössen der 1960er-Jahre und den unvergesslichen Jahren des Blue-Note-Labels. Ihr Ziel ist es, den charakteristischen Sound der klassischen Quintett-Besetzungen mit Tenorsaxophon und Trompete jener Zeit authentisch wiederzugeben – und diesen Klang von dort aus weiterzuentwickeln.
Antonio Scannapieco
Trumpet
Pasquale Geremia
Tenor saxophone
Guglielmo Santimone
Piano
Giulio Scianatico
Double bass
Angelo Gregorio
Drums
Kevin Yosua Trio ft. Hansen Arief & Rio Manuel
Es gibt keinen Zweifel: Diese drei zählen zu den spannendsten Namen der aktuellen Jazzszene Indonesiens. Gemeinsam verbinden sie tiefen Respekt für die Jazztradition mit einem modernen, zukunftsgerichteten Ansatz – ihr dynamisches Spiel begeistert mit frischer, lebendiger Energie. Die Spielfreude, die sie auf der Bühne ausstrahlen, ist mitreissend und ansteckend. Jazz goes Asia und kommt nach St. Moritz – not to be missed!!
Rio Manuel
Piano
Kevin Yosua
Double bass
Hansen Arief
Drums
The Mentors
Camille Bertault
vocals, France
The internationally acclaimed French jazz singer Camille Bertault took the jazz world by storm in 2015 when her viral video featuring a brilliant scat interpretation of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” along with other solo transcriptions, captivated hundreds of thousands of viewers. Her extraordinary career includes performances at renowned venues in Paris, Birdland in New York, Sunset-Sunside, as well as festivals such as the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the EFG London Jazz Festival, and the Gaume Jazz Festival. She has released albums on labels including Sony, Sunnyside, and ACT, among them “Pas de Géant,” “Le Tigre,” and “Bonjour Mon Amour,” for which she won the 2023 Victoires du Jazz as best vocalist. Bertault has collaborated with jazz greats such as Christian McBride, Jacky Terrasson, Chris Potter, Jeff Ballard, and the Brazilian legends João Bosco, Ivan Lins, and many more, touring worldwide.
Luis Perdomo
piano, Venezuela
Grammy® Award Winning Pianist Luis Perdomo has released nine critically acclaimed recordings as a leader, and has appeared on over 250 recordings as a sideman. A native of Venezuela, Perdomo holds a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a master’s degree from Queens College. He has performed, toured and recorded with a wide variety of artists, such as Ravi Coltrane, Jerry Bergonzi, David Gilmore, Tom Harrell, Ray Barretto, David Sanchez, George Garzone and The Vanguard Orchestra amongst others. He is a founding member of the Miguel Zenón Quartet, a collaboration that has yielded 13 recordings in 26 years. He is very active as a clinician and professor of music. He has taught at Queens College in NYC, Berklee College of Music, The New School, and currently is an associate professor of Jazz Piano at Oberlin Conservatory.
Peter Slavov
bass, Bulgaria
The Grammy-nominated Bulgarian jazz bassist Peter Slavov is a permanent member of the Classic Quartet and the Us Five band led by the award-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano. He has collaborated with icons such as Quincy Jones, George Garzone, Danilo Pérez, Chucho Valdés, Alfredo Rodriguez, and Kevin Mahogany. His brilliant career has taken him to iconic clubs like the Village Vanguard, Birdland, and Smalls in New York, as well as stages at prestigious festivals including the Monterey Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and Umbria Jazz, performing in over 40 countries. After earning a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music, he released his highly acclaimed debut album “Little Stories” in 2019 and can be heard on Joe Lovano’s “Cross Culture” (Blue Note). Slavov tours worldwide
Kiko Freitas
drums, Brazil
The award-winning Brazilian drummer Kiko Freitas was voted Best Drummer in World Music by Modern Drummer magazine in 2019. For over two decades, he has been a permanent member of the band of Brazilian legend João Bosco, touring extensively through Brazil, the USA, Europe, and Asia. He has performed alongside masters such as Michel Legrand, Milton Nascimento, Chico Buarque, Lee Ritenour, John Patitucci, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins, and Hamilton de Holanda. His outstanding career includes appearances at world-renowned festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Jazz Baltica, and Red Sea Jazz Festival. As a highly sought-after educator, he gives clinics at institutions including the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music and the California Jazz Conservatory. Freitas tours worldwide.
The Award
The Bands invited to the Festival da Jazz are already winners. The days in St. Moritz are intended to focus on the joy of music. The two winning acts will be paired with renowned mentors. The young talents will have five days of intensive work, rehearsing, and arranging in the festival's rehearsal rooms. The grand finale will be the concert in the legendary Dracula Club, the festival's main venue.
And because the music business is business, bands should also gain something on this level on their path to professional careers. Every festival is an organic network from which curious musicians can benefit. What do festivals look for when booking? Where is persistence important, and where is it counterproductive? How do you present yourself online and offline? From sound engineers and band managers to festival directors and external managers – there's a wealth of knowledge and experience available on-site that can be tapped into.
Five days masterclass
Including board and lodging, with internationally renowned and experienced mentors and hosts of the Festival da Jazz.
CONCERT
A concert on our main stage, the incomparable Dracula Club.
Video
Professional recordings of the band including the whole concert at the Dracula Club.
award
The award is endowed with prize money totalling CHF 5,000.
Networking
The opportunity to establish contacts with international agencies and managers.
festival
Free concert visits for all band members.
The Jury
The jury brings together diverse figures from the jazz, music, and event industry. The Festival da Jazz places great importance on ensuring that the selection of members encompasses a broad spectrum and diverse perspectives:
Carolina Müller-Möhl
Philanthrope & Investor
Christian Jott Jenny
Singer & Founder Festival da Jazz
Roberta Gambarini
Jazz-Singer
Antonio Sanchez
Drummer & 4-time Grammy Award winner
Melina Roshard
PR/Media Expert
Peewee Windmüller
Former Editor-in-chief JAZZ’N’MORE magazine
Erena Terakubo
Saxophonist & Composer, Japan
Roger Rüegger
Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab
General Application Terms
The competition for the Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab is aimed at:
National and international bands that operate in the broad field of jazz
Bands that are still at the beginning of their career and whose members are on average no more than 30 years old
Bands of jazz students and/or jazz school graduates
A video recording is mandatory, ideally via youtube link. We want to see how you play ‘live’, without editing/mastering. Completely edited studio recordings will not be accepted.
No more than two songs.
Please keep your schedule open from July 12 to July 18 until the end of April 2026. We will inform you by then.
Application
And this is how it works: Interested bands can apply for the Defender Pioneers‑Jazzlab via this online form. Entry deadline is April 5, 2026. A jury of national and international experts will select two winning acts from all submissions.
IMPORTANT: The winners will be invited to Festival da Jazz in the week from July 12 to 18, 2026. These dates have to be kept free! The jury’s decision will be announced in early May. There will be no correspondence regarding the decision, the legal process is excluded.
Jazzlab Alumni
Kevin Yosua Trio ft. Hansen Arief & Rio Manuel
There is no doubt: these three are some of the most exciting names in Indonesia’s jazz scene today. Together, they blend a deep respect for jazz tradition with a forward-looking spirit whose dynamic playing impresses with a fresh and vibrant energy. Their joy of playing when on the bandstand is truly captivating and contagious. Jazz goes Asia and comes to St. Moritz - not to be missed!
Scannapieco-Geremia 5et
Born in 2024 from an idea of two friends, the quintet's identity is the result of the favorite music the two founders have absorbed over the past years. Their main influences are the hardbop greats of the 1960s, the unforgettable Blue Note label years and the intention is to precisely reproduce the characteristics given by the tenor sax and trumpet quintet line-ups of that time and evolving from there.
Ciara Moser & Friends
Ciara Moser & Friends is a remarkable jazz and fusion ensemble led by blind bassist Ciara Moser. The ensemble is truly international, featuring musicians from South Africa, India, the Dominican Republic, the USA, Morocco, and France. Each member brings their own ethnomusical background, enriching the music with a tapestry of natural global influences. They seamlessly blend world music with jazz and fusion, creating an extraordinary, unique, and vibrant sound experience that feels like embarking on a journey to discover our planet in its many wonderful, colorful dimensions.
TBA Trio
The TBA Trio consists of Gadi Lehavi, Romeu Tristão, and Ofri Nehemya, all of whom are leaders of the band. Deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, with a solid understanding of its history and complete mastery of the jazz language, the TBA Trio originated at the Festival da Jazz 2024 when the original bassist was unable to make the trip due to visa complications. As a result, the GTO Trio became the TBA Trio ("To Be Announced"). The three groove and swing powerfully, creating their own band sound, which is a joyful burst of positive energy, taking them from zero to full throttle in just one week.
DANIEL MIGLIOSI 6TET
The young sextet around Luxembourg trumpeter Daniel Migliosi brings a mixture of traditional hardbop enriched with a healthy pinch of contemporary jazz to the stage to create their own sound and take the audience on an emotional journey. Original compositions inspired by the “Young Lions” from the USA enable the perfect musical exchange between the six “Young Lions” from Cologne, London and Luxembourg.
JULIA RICHARD TRIO
Three years ago, French‑Mexican singer and bassist Julia Richard was accepted into the Regional Conservatory of Paris, less than a year after she began playing jazz and double bass. There she met the outstanding fellow musicians of her current trio. Together, they beautifully blend different genres, combining pop with jazzy undertones and more to create memorable performances.
Yotam Ben-or Quartet
Harmonica player and composer Yotam Ben‑Or was born and raised in Nataf, a small village in the Jerusalem area. He started playing the harmonica at the age of 11, taught by his uncle. He moved to New York in 2014 after receiving a full scholarship to study at the New School. Since moving to NYC, Ben‑Or and his group have performed at the most prestigious venues and festivals in town such as: Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. They toured Europe, the Americas and Israel.
InSpace
InSpace is an ensemble of five young musicians from Ukraine, Russia and Germany. The compositions of their singer Kateryna Kravchenko are supported by an acoustic and warm band sound, which exhausts the timbre of each individual instrument and gives the music a depth which is rich in contrast. The melody assumes the leading role. Not subject to any pulse, it is organically embedded in complex rhythmic structures. It intertwines with the accompaniment to form a continuous unity.
Karoline Weidt Quartett
Karoline Weidt found her way to jazz through classical music and is about to complete her Masters degree in Jazz vocals in Dresden. With her quartet she serves “lyrical vocal jazz” in an inviting and playful way. Weidt’s flawless voice dances with ease over the subtle sound and the complex arrangements of the quartet.
MarcO Poingt Trio
Marc Oliver Poingt studied classical and jazz piano at the same time. No wonder his “MarcO Poingt Trio” combines styles and genres with playful ease. Together with Sam Ruff on drums and Baptiste Watiez on bass, Poingts piano playing blends into a modern sound with cinematic timbres.
MISS C-LINE
Anyone who composes their own songs in the style of Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu at the age of twelve knows where they are going. Carolina Müller a.k.a MISS C-LINE is one of our “New Generation #JazzLab” winners. Even if she’s busy with her Jazz vocal bachelor degree, she produces fresh hip hop with a deeply rooted jazz sensitivity. For the JazzLab she’ll be accompanied by her band. Yummie
FORMER MENTORS
Since 2021, Jazzlab has been made possible thanks to the exceptionally generous support of our main partner Jaguar (2021–2025) and, more recently, Defender. The mentors who guide and accompany our winning acts during an intensive week play a truly central role. They serve as confidants, teachers, sounding boards, sources of inspiration — and sometimes even as emergency therapists. The Festival da Jazz takes great care in selecting these outstanding mentors. Below is a list of everyone who has been involved so far.