Sasha Berliner Group — Opening Concert of MASiMAS Festival 2026
MASiMAS Festival 2026 opens with a high-voltage creative proposal: the modern, ethereal, deep, and expansive jazz of American vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, one of the most revealing and personal voices on today’s jazz scene. Described by the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival as “a creative composer who challenges genres and an exceptional leader with a sixth sense for yet-unimagined possibilities,” Berliner arrives at Jamboree to present Fantome, her latest album, which UK Vibe calls the work that “cements her reputation as one of the most captivating musicians in contemporary jazz.”
Her music stems from an open and radically free approach to creation. “Everything can be transformable and stimulating from an artistic point of view,” Berliner says in 15questions. “It’s important not to dismiss anything and to remain open to any influence: music, visual arts, history, politics, literature, or film.” This receptive attitude translates into a sonic language that flows between composition and improvisation, always in motion and attentive to the moment.
Improvisation, the central axis of her work, is not for her a display of virtuosity, but a deeply emotional expressive tool. “I like to improvise based on the emotion of a piece: it can be dark, obsessive, abrupt, aggressive, or luminous. The question is what the song asks for and how I can honor it.” In this sense, Berliner understands that the improvisational language evolves with each generation: “Each era of jazz has developed its own vocabulary, and ours also has its own voice.”
MASiMAS opening concert will include avant-garde new compositions and personal reinterpretations of jazz and alternative music pieces, conceived as living spaces for dialogue between musicians. While she values the possibilities of technology and remote collaboration—“it allows us to be more independent and break barriers of time, economy, and geography”—Berliner is clear about where the true magic happens: “Nothing compares to playing together in the same room. Musicians react in real time, creating a magic that can only exist in that moment.”
This ephemeral dimension is precisely one of the great strengths of improvisation. “The notes may disappear, but the effect they have on the listener and the performer does not fade. It inhabits a kind of third space.” A shared, intense, and unrepeatable space that defines the essence of live performance.
Why you shouldn’t miss her: because Sasha Berliner transforms every concert into a unique experience, where composition, improvisation, and emotion interact in real time, with a bold artistic voice that is redefining the language of contemporary jazz.
Sasha Berliner vibraphone · Rasmus Sørensen piano · Felix Moseholm bass · Jamie Peet drums
