Golden Swing Bigband & Ully Mathias

Swing & Jazzrock

As an amateur big band with semi-professional standards, the Golden Swing Big Band has been one of the region's big bands for more than forty years. Uwe Kirsch took over the direction of the big band in 1984 and has been its leader for over forty years. In addition to regular concerts of its own, the formation has performed numerous times in the region, including at the Idar-Oberstein Castle Days, the Theater Summer, the Hunsrück Rally, the Intergem Gala, the Sports and Press Ball, the coronation of the German Gemstone Queen and at all previous Idar-Oberstein Jazz Days.

The big band has also made a name for itself beyond the region. It has taken part in four Rhineland-Palatinate Days, played as the support act at the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble concert, was the musical ambassador for the town of Idar-Oberstein at the anniversary of the town twinning with Margate, played at Bingen Swingt and at the Völklingen Ironworks World Cultural Heritage Site, and made television appearances in the Glaskasten, on the Tele-Tour, on "Hierzuland" and on the Sunday Tour.

In addition, the formation can boast two third places in the Rhineland-Palatinate Big Band competition at the German Orchestra Competition.

In 2010, the big band was awarded the Idar-Oberstein Cultural Promotion Prize. In 2011, the formation played a sold-out concert with jazz legend Bill Ramsey and in 2014 a concert with Silvia Droste, the "First Lady" of the German jazz scene.

Ully Mathias has been the soloist on board since 2014. Her variable and multi-faceted voice fits perfectly into the repertoire of the big band's program of swing and jazz classics. You can find more information about Ully on her website:

www.ullymathias.de