53. Moers Festival – Crossing the Borders of Jazz and Contemporary Music between the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr Region

The moers festival, which takes place annually at Whitsun, stands for all forms of music that are not ‘mainstream’. This makes it a stage for the ‘unheard’, and at the same time it represents the top echelons of international jazz and the avant-garde. Even in what is probably the world's densest cultural and festival landscape that is the Ruhr region, the moers festival stands out as a ‘beacon of structural transformation’ with international appeal. After three festival editions heavily impacted by the pandemic, 2023 marked a festival comeback in Moers: regional and international fans were kept busy with more than 70 concerts in the main programme, including around 20 sessions and ANNEX concerts, countless pop-up events, guerrilla concerts, and workshops for children and young people. Analogue formats, alongside digital formats that emerged during the pandemic, stood side by side on an equal footing and will also be expanded in the future.

From 17 to 20 May, the 53rd moers festival aimed to provocatively and unpretentiously confront a world full of crises, wars and uncertainties. With clever ideas, courageous projects and critical self-reflection, the festival adopted the philosophically profound and humorously loving view of the Moers cabaret artist Hanns Dieter Hüsch, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.

In addition to attending the festival, the visitor programme offered participants the opportunity to talk to the festival organisers and artists as well as other representatives and institutions in the field of new music and jazz in North Rhine-Westphalia.