NDR Bigband (Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra) begins 2025/2026 season with Nikki Iles as new Principal Conductor.

Friday, April 04, 2025

British bandleader, pianist & composer Nikki Iles will be the new Principal Conductor of the NDR Bigband from the 2025/26 season. She succeeds Geir Lysne & will lead the renowned ensemble for 2 yearse

We have received the following press release;

Iles Ahead!

NDR Bigband begins 2025/2026 season with Nikki Iles as new Principal Conductor

British bandleader, pianist and composer Nikki Iles will be the new Principal Conductor of the NDR Bigband from the 2025/26 season. She succeeds Geir Lysne and will lead the renowned ensemble for an initial period of two years.

Nikki Iles: “I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to have a chance to deepen my relationship with the wonderful NDR Bigband as their new Chief Conductor. Over the last four years I have felt a very warm connection with them and have shared many inspiring moments in Studio 1 here in Hamburg. It is on account of this collective chemistry and trust that I have found myself, for the first time, able to consider a position such as this. The NDR Bigband is truly an ensemble for our times and they embrace this role with such passion, innovation and a wealth of experience. This is matched by a deep commitment from the organisation that allows us to focus on the music and to keep it at the heart of everything we do. I am so looking forward to programming some exciting and dynamic new collaborations as we celebrate this music in all its diversity and make meaningful connections throughout Europe and further afield. I welcome also the opportunity to connect with new audiences - offering them unprecedented sounds in new settings - and to reach out to future generations through meaningful education projects. It goes without saying that I have the greatest respect for every member of the band and really look forward to a journey full of discovery and to making some fantastic music together!”

Nikki Iles, who attracted attention in 2020 as a participant in the NDR Bigband’s podium for composers and arrangers, has been appointed composer-in-residence of the ensemble in 2023. The joint album ‘Face to Face’, which resulted from this close collaboration, delighted audiences and critics alike and was nominated for the German Jazz Award in 2024. For her debut on 27 September in Hannover (NDR Konzerthaus) and on 28 September in Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Nikki Iles will bring her new work ‘The Shadow of a Dream - Journeys through a Strange World’, which was composed especially for the NDR Bigband.

NDR Programme Director Ilka Steinhausen: “Nikki Iles marks the beginning of a new era in the history of our internationally acclaimed NDR Big Band. We are hoping for many new, inspiring impulses, because she brings a fantastic network with her. A great artist - and probably the first female chief conductor to lead a big band of ARD.”

Michael Dreyer, NDR Big Band Manager:
“Nikki Iles is an extraordinary phenomenon in the world of jazz. The NDR Bigband has really fallen in love with her. We look forward to our future together.”

Sandra Hempel and Klaus Heidenreich, board members of the NDR Bigband:
“Nikki Iles is our favourite candidate for the position of Principal Conductor. We are very much looking forward to working with her.”

Nikki Iles and the NDR Bigband in a subscription programme

Together with the NDR Bigband, the new chief conductor will present a high-calibre subscription programme in Hamburg and Hanover. Nikki Iles has curated three programmes and invited soloists such as singer Norma Winstone, Canadian sisters Ingrid and Christine Jensen and bass legend Dave Holland.

About her first project, ‘The Shadow of a Dream - Journeys through a Strange World’ (27/28 September 2025), Nikki Iles says: ‘In this programme I have focused on themes of unity - how important it is to find empathy and common ground despite the challenges we face.

Together with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and saxophonist Christine Jensen, Nikki Iles brings Canadian soundscapes to life. She is joined by Canadian pianist Kris Davis, whose percussive piano playing is a delightful complement to the Jensens’ lyrical style and the power of the NDR Big Band. The theme: ‘Luminescent Landscapes’ (14/15 February 2026).

Spinning the Wheeler’ could be the title of the third programme, curated by Nikki Iles. Here, all participants will continue to spin their experiences with a brilliant musician: Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014), the ‘master of melancholy chaos’. Iles has recruited two jazz legends for the project: singer Norma Winstone and bassist and Miles Davis sideman Dave Holland (20/21 June 2025).

Looking to the 2025/26 season

In the concert season 2025/26 the NDR Bigband will be working with Danilo Pérez, Wayne Shorter’s longtime pianist, the Hamburg band TOYTOY and the Cologne jazz trumpeter Frederik Köster, and will be celebrating the 100th birthday of Miles Davis.

In the broadcasting area, the NDR Big Band also takes its productions to hidden corners and is a guest at important festivals such as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Travejazz in Lübeck, Jazzfest Delmenhorst and JazzBaltica.

The NDR Big Band also gives young musicians a chance: it is touring three schools in the broadcasting area and is now working with the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Advance ticket sales for the Hamburg subscription series begin on 3 April, and for individual tickets for the Hamburg concerts on 13 May. Subscriptions for the Hanover concerts will go on sale on 16 May, with individual tickets available from 19 May. For more information and the full programme, visit http://www.ndr.de/bigband.