Every year an EBU Radio Member puts together a Big Band comprising European jazz musicians under the age of 30. This year its the turn of RTS, part of Swiss Member SRG SSR.

Under the baton of conductor and composer Ohad Talmor, the band will play a repertoire created especially for the occasion in 4 concerts in Switzerland, the last two of which will be at the JazzContreBand Festival in Geneva.

After many months of hard work and collaboration with the EBU, 14 European radio units, 17 musicians, 3 concert venues, a host of hotels, graphic artists and travel agents, and close cooperation between SRF, RSI and RTS (the other parts of SSR SRG), the 2015 European Jazz Orchestra is now ready to swing.

European jazz producers have been fighting tooth and nail to ensure the continued existence of a musical message and distribute it as broadly as possible. Against this background, a project such as the European Jazz Orchestra gives rise to prolific musical friendships, coupled with unexpected tours and recordings, between musicians who would never even have met each other without the support of the EBU and its Members.

The orchestra has been uniting European jazz in this way since 1965.

This year, the ad hoc orchestra and its 17 European musicians under 30 will be led by the composer-arranger-conductor-saxophonist Ohad Talmor, an Israeli who was born in Lyons, grew up in Geneva, and has been based in Brooklyn for the past 15 years. Switzerland will also be represented by two musicians from the Italian-speaking and German-speaking regions, Simon Quinn and Tapiwa Svosve.

The musical project consists of four concerts:

- Thursday 15 October - Mehrspur, Zurich

- Friday 16 October - Auditorio Stelio Molo, RSI-Lugano (also streamed live)

- Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 October - AMR–Sud des Alpes and Festival JazzContreBand, Geneva