Elias D'hooge Trio wins B-Jazz International Contest 2023

Over the past three days, Muziekmozaïek organized the finals of the B-Jazz International Contest 2023 in collaboration with Jazz in 't Park. In the Voorhavenpark in Ghent, the numerous audience present could enjoy six wonderful concerts together with the jury. Anti-Panopticon (Belgium/Netherlands) and Elias D'hooge Trio (Belgium) advanced from the Belgian preliminaries. Selected by foreign partners, Symbiosis 5 (Hungary), Urban Quartet (Italy), Peter Willems Trio (Netherlands/Germany/Poland) and Sebastian Spanache (Romania) stood as international acts in the final.

With seven nationalities on stage, the international character of this competition for young jazz musicians was already guaranteed. The jazz future looks bright!

After the performance of the sixth finalist on Saturday evening, the international professional jury retreated to deliberate, which was no easy task given the high level of all participants. In the end, they came to the unanimous decision that the winner of B-Jazz 2023, the winner of the 'Grand Prix Albert Michiels', is the group Elias D'hooge Trio. This trio consists of pianist Elias D'hooge, Zjef Van Steenbergen on double bass and drummer Tom Peeters. They get to perform in Spain, Italy, Romania, the Netherlands and, of course, Belgium in the coming months.

From the jury report: "Great sound as a trio. Supergood quality of performance. An honest, simple, committed, straight-forward approach to music. They breathe the music together!"

More info at bjazz.be