As part of the St. Moritz Jazz Festival, which will take place from July 2 to 26, 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 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.
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.
Mentors :
- Camille Bertault, voice, France
- Luis Perdomo, piano, Venezuela
- Peter Slavov, bass, Bulgaria
- Kiko Freitas, drums, Brazil
