Yeah The Girls

An interview with Zoe Hauptmann for Jazz Australia.

Australian artists and international stars descend upon Sydney once again for the 2018 Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival. This year sees visiting artists from the USA, Finland and Japan with local and international artist collaborations to-boot!

There’s a stunning array of artists performing in a number of settings from intimate trios to sixteen and seventeen piece big bands. The program represents remarkable diversity in the jazz scene. We talked to Artistic Director Zoe Hauptmann about the 2018 program.

AC: Hi Zoe, so this will be your third festival now in the Director’s chair. How do you see the importance of this event to both women in jazz and the broad cultural landscape?

ZH: The Sydney International Women’s Jazz festival is extremely important. Events like this highlight and celebrate the incredible musicianship and immense talent that is abundant in the women of the Jazz scene. It gives women centre stage which is something that unfortunately is not happening enough at other festivals.

AC: There seems to be a particular emphasis with vocalists this year – can you elaborate?

ZH: We are very excited this year to have some really fantastic vocalists as part of the program. I’ve always considered jazz vocalists to be much closer to instrumentalists than in other genres as they often improvise and use their instrument in varied and incredible ways. These amazing women come from all over the globe and each has a really unique approach to the music.

AC: The Women’s Jazz Festival is now an established event on the Australian Music Calendar – what continues to excite you about it?

ZH: There are just so many amazing female jazz musicians out there!! It is really exciting to get to bring some of them to Sydney and give audiences the opportunity to experience what the world has to offer. Our festival is continuing to grow which is fantastic as there are so many musicians on my wish list that I would love to program. I really am spoilt for choice and think that anyone who isn’t programming a healthy percentage of women for shows just doesn’t have their finger on the pulse of the music scene.

The Sydney Women’s International Jazz Festival

November 7 – 17, 2018

Various Locations in Sydney

Download the full program HERE

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