Hip hop meets jazz, quartet meets orchestra, TOYTOY meets the NDR big band: the encounter between two musical spheres that are usually far removed from each other creates a big, rousing and special sound at this concert in the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk.

For over 40 years, the NDR Bigband has been an authority as a jazz orchestra. Originating from the roots of a pure radio ensemble, since the 1970s it has developed into a band that not only serves a comprehensive jazz repertoire, but also sets its own impulses, expands genre boundaries and performs with world stars.

Necessity is the mother of invention: when making music together fell victim to the pandemic-related requirement to minimize contact, Silvan Strauß, drummer of the Hamburg electro-jazz quartet TOYTOY, and Geir Lysne, chief conductor of the NDR Bigband until June 2025, came up with a project that brings together the reduced-contact approach of hip-hop and contemporary pop music with the sonic power of a big band.

Under the band name TOYTOY, Silvan Strauß, guitarist Alex Eckert Stritzke and percussionist Samuel Wootton, three childhood friends from the Allgäu who met while studying jazz at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, are working together.They joined forces with bassist Daniel Stritzke to form a quartet while studying jazz at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, and are working on overcoming the boundaries between hip-hop and the electronic, urban groove music they grew up with and the virtuoso improvisational music of jazz.

TOYTOY developed the beats in their own studio on the sequencer. Geir Lysne's arrangements enrich the synthetically generated, hip grooves and sounds with elementary colors from the analog palette of the big band and with cool references to the shared history of jazz and hip hop.

In their joint concert, TOYTOY and the NDR Bigband take the spin of their joint project even further, opening up scope for the spontaneous intrusion of the unforeseen, for interaction with the audience, for extended improvisation. In this way, they open doors into open territory, where hip-hop and jazz join hands and discover new things together.

Line-up:

NDR Bigband

TOYTOY:
Samuel Wotton: Percussion
Alex Eckert: Guitar
Daniel Stritzke: Bass
Silvan Strauß: Drums

Admission: 20:00
Start: 20:30h
End: 21.45 hrs

Fair price ticket: 44€

This price ensures that all performers are paid fairly and can make a living from their work. If you can afford it, we would be delighted if you bought this ticket.

Social Price Ticket: 28€

Culture costs money, but should not exclude anyone. That's why this ticket is intended for people who have little financial leeway - for whatever reason.

Support-Price Ticket: 56€
Support us in continuing the social price ticket model. From three supporter tickets you will receive exclusive benefits.