Every year, the Jazzwerkstatt invites two or three people to actively help with shaping the programme. This ensures that we don’t always move in the same circles – our guest curators enthusiastically tell us about their favourite bands and musicians which opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
In 2026, the musicians Aya Metwalli and Jim Black are the guest curators of the year:
Aya Metwalli
Aya Metwalli (b. 1988, Cairo) is a singer and composer/performer whose work moves between tradition and experimentation. Raised in the sonic density of Cairo, she developed a voice shaped by the city’s chaos, weaving folk roots into avant-garde soundscapes. Her exploration of timbre and microtonality connects her practice to contemporary composition and the wider field of new music. Her sound world often drifts between lament and dissonance, using unusual tunings to expand the sonorities of song and draw listeners into unfamiliar emotional spaces.
She has collaborated with Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, presenting Cabaret Bizarre (2021/2025) at Mediterrane Perspektiven (Theaterhaus Stuttgart, 2025), ULTIMA Contemporary Music Festival (Oslo, 2022), Irtijal Experimental Music Festival (Beirut, 2022) and many other festivals around Europe. Her latest work, Salute the Groom (2025), was written for 4tet Laboratoire and premiered at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2025.
For the Jazzwerkstatt, she tried to bring a piece of Cairo to Berne. She is particularly excited about the presence of Maurice Louca, who is one of her favourite musicians from Cairo. Maurice Louca comes with a project that did not get a chance to tour, since they released their album during covid. “This is why I find the Jazzwerkstatt very special, because it creates space and opportunity for things that wouldn’t normally happen elsewhere.”
Jim Black
Jim Black (b. 1967, Seattle) is a drummer and composer whose practice unfolds at the intersection of composition, improvisation, and sound exploration. Emerging from the New York downtown scene of the 1990s, he developed a distinctive musical voice that rethinks the drum set as a site of color, architecture, and form rather than timekeeping alone. His work often navigates between tightly notated structures and open, volatile spaces, creating music that shifts abruptly between propulsion, fragmentation, and suspension.
Black has been a central figure in numerous long-term collaborations and ensembles, including his own projects Pachora and AlasNoAxis, and has worked closely with artists such as Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Uri Caine, Laurie Anderson, and Ellery Eskelin. His music has been presented internationally across festivals and institutions devoted to jazz, improvised music, and contemporary composition, where it has played a significant role in expanding the language of modern rhythm.
For Jazzwerkstatt Bern, Jim Black is interested in the collective process itself—the possibility of forming temporary communities around sound. “Schrafer Snef vs. Trash Quest Bunny” is the electro/dance heavy project he is debuting at this festival which encourages experimentation without stylistic prescription, allowing musicians to test ideas, take risks, and discover new musical relationships. In this context, Jazzwerkstatt becomes less a festival than a laboratory, where collaboration and curiosity drive the music forward.