Humsera Shows

Concert series for free improvised music in Bamberg

Humsera Shows is a format for free improvised music, initiated out of the desire to give this form of music-making a permanent place in a city where it has so far been scarcely present. The series sees itself as a contribution to increasing the visibility and support of improvised music, offering a platform for exchange between musicians from the region—with Bamberg as its hotspot—and guests from other cities, open to encounters, collective playing, and sonic experimentation.

Humsera Shows is conceived as an ongoing and open concert series presenting new guests every month. A key part of making free improvised music visible is ensuring that it does not exist only within a circle of insiders, but can also be encountered by people outside the scene—at venues that are part of everyday urban life. For this reason, the Humsera Shows deliberately take place in the center of Bamberg’s inner city. In this way, a format emerges that makes a different kind of live music accessible in the city center and becomes part of Bamberg’s cultural life.

Another central concern of the series is inclusion. For this reason, there is no fixed admission fee, ensuring that everyone interested can attend the concerts. Culture should be freely accessible and directed at a broad audience—independent of social or financial circumstances.

The openness of the series is also reflected in its artistic direction: improvised music transcends genre boundaries, connects influences of many kinds, and resists fixed classifications. The format therefore addresses anyone who is curious about unfamiliar sound worlds and eager for a listening experience beyond the familiar.

In addition, the concert series integrates special focal points. In the current edition, this is realized through a contribution by students of the Municipal Music School, who, as part of their ensemble classes led by Steve Landgraf, will perform a graphic score they developed themselves. This creates a bridge between the professional improvisation scene and young musicians—a dialogue that expands the concept of the Humsera Shows in a distinctive way.