End-of-semester concert: Second Unit Jazz celebrates its comeback in the Audimax

"Unfortunately, when you come to university, you often put your instrument aside," Philipp Gelmroth knows. So that hobby musicians like him can continue to pursue music during their studies, the Second Unit Jazz - in addition to the Academic Orchestra of the TU Ilmenau - offers them the opportunity to make music together in a professional setting. For almost 20 years, the Big Band of the TU Ilmenau has been a contact point for students and employees of the university who like to play instruments in their free time. Every Wednesday, the current 35 band members meet during lecture time to rehearse, like Philipp Gelmroth:

I've been in the band since 2013 and still enjoy going to rehearsals every week. There you meet fellow students and colleagues, the Second Unit Jazz connects us. We have grown together over the years into a sworn community and it's just fun to play together.

Musically, the Big Band is led by Tim Jäkel, Philipp Gelmroth and Tristan Gauter take care of the organization and finances. The composer conducts the amateur musicians with a lot of experience and sensitivity, so that all instruments produce a beautiful sound when playing together. Wind instruments like the saxophone, trumpets and trombones provide the melodic sound, while guitar, bass, piano and the drums form the rhythmic group.

Professional musical standards

The Big Band can be experienced live at its traditional end-of-semester concert, which took place last year in virtual form and this semester, after a corona break, for the first time again in front of an audience in the Audimax, the largest lecture hall at Ilmenau Technical University. The audience celebrated the concert with lively cheers, as Philipp Gelmroth recounts:

We have received only positive encouragement. Our concertgoers appreciate our colorful program with swing classics by Glenn Miller or Sammy Nestico, but also jazz arrangements of well-known pop songs. We pursue a professional standard and want to offer our guests an enjoyable concert experience.

In the summer semester of 2023, the Second Unit Jazz will celebrate its 20th anniversary. In 2003, the Second Unit Jazz formed as a separate unit from the Academic Orchestra of the TU Ilmenau - first as a jazz combo and later as a big band. Philipp Gelmroth hopes that jazz will remain popular at the TU Ilmenau and that many new faces will find their way to the big band:

I hope the Second Unit Jazz will remain at the TU for a long time. We would be happy if future generations have as much fun making music as we do.