Jury report Willem Breuker Prijs 2024. Kika Sprangers (1994), saxophonist, composer, arranger band leader

Kika Sprangers conquers many hearts with her lyrical, inimitable sound. Her intense love for music and for her fellow musicians bursts from the stage. She develops her own projects with a truly unique approach, in which no collaboration is ever taken for granted. Kika Sprangers is always looking for, and creating, new and unexpected encounters: with choirs, orchestras, string quartets, big bands. Every line-up, every genre, every artform inspires her to find her own language as well as deepening it. Quality is always paramount for her, and her unifying role, both on and off stage, makes for a coherent whole, whatever the line-up is. She has a remarkable mission to offer more women a place in the jazz scene, which is of great importance for the emancipation of the jazz scene. Her mode of operation may be described as ‘no bullshit’, as Willem Breuker himself would have put it. She follows her own path and always makes her own, unique choices in doing so.

(Translation: Herman te Loo)

Jury WB Prijs 2024
Neil van der Linden
Lonneke van Straalen
Tido Visser

foto Bert Nienhuis