Jazzik #5 – “An American in Paris”

Elias Peter Brown is a conductor, composer, improviser, and curator, seeking to create meaningful spaces for listening in and out of the concert hall.

In the 2025/26 season Brown makes his conducting debuts with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin), Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Danish Chamber Orchestra (Danmarks Underholdningsorkester) and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, while continuing his relationship with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. In January 2026 his first album recorded with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, a spotlight on microtonal orchestral works by Kristupas Bubnelis, will be released on the Music Information Centre Lithuania Label.

Last season saw his debut with Ensemble Modern (Acht Brücken Festival) and twelve concert dates with Odense Symphony Orchestra in his position as assistant conductor, as well as projects at the Salzburg Easter Festival as assistant conductor to Esa-Pekka Salonen and at Washington National Opera as the Solti Opera Residency Fellow.

He was previously a Salonen Fellow at the Colburn School, during which he was closely mentored by Esa-Pekka Salonen and made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony for the Soundbox New Music Series. He also worked as assistant conductor to Salonen with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. In 2021, he won first prize and the orchestra prize in the Korean Conducting Competition, and subsequently had numerous concerts with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra.

Deeply committed to new music, Brown has worked with Zafraan Ensemble, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Garage, and the New European Ensemble. Brown is fascinated by the intersection between artforms and new ways of presenting music. His Master’s thesis at Royal Academy of Music explored the theory and practice of concert curation, and was later published in Glissando Magazine. Recent examples of his own curation have included CAVE, a site-specific performance in the Brunel Museum, selected by the Prague Quadrennial 2019; and less than a grain of dust for Yale University Art Gallery.

Brown completed his studies at Yale University, Royal Academy of Music, and Universität der Künste Berlin, and received additional mentorship and training while a Stipendiat of the German Music Council’s Forum Dirigieren. He has also been a two-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. His teachers have been Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sian Edwards, Harry Curtis, Steven Sloane, and Daniel Boico, and he has participated in masterclasses with David Zinman, Marin Alsop, Mark Stringer, Johannes Schlaefli, and Larry Rachleff.

He is based in Berlin.

Jocelyn B. Smith (*New York, 1960), has lived in Germany for the past 30 years. She has held more than 3.000 live concerts and has worked with very different artists such as Lenny White,Till Brönner, Falco, Alphaville, or composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, Heiner Goebbels and Zülfu Livanelli.

In 1995, she received the Golden Record Award for the title song of the Disney movie „The Lion King“. In 1998, she received the Jazz Award from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for her CD „Blue Lights and Nylons“ (her label Blondell Productions produced over 10.000 copies of the CD).

In 2006, Jocelyn started her philanthropic project and has founded the choir „Different Voices of Berlin“ in a community and neighborhood center against poverty and social exclusion in Berlin Kreuzberg, at „Gitschiner 15“. She is also the founder of the charitable „Yes We Can e.V.“ (2008), which campaigns for the sustainable protection and assistance for children as well as the humanitarian project „Shine A Light“.

In 2011, Jocelyn was asked to sing „Amazing Grace“ at the Berlin commemoration of September 11 at the Brandenburger Tor, which was broadcasted worldwide by CNN. She participated in the last concert held prior to closing the „Tränen Palast“ at the former German Border in front of special guests that included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Merkel, US-Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, German Bishop Wolfgang Huber, members of the German House of Parliament, Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany, Roman Herzog and Horst Köhler.

In 2015, Jocelyn released her 30-year anniversary album „My Way“ with a concert at the Berlin Cathedral „The DOM“. She is the ambassador of the „Help 4 People e.V.“ (Refugee-Aid Foundation) together with Björn Schulz Stiftung (Sonnenhof Kinder Hospiz). Her initiative „Shine A Light“ promotes humanity and more tolerance. In 2016, Jocelyn performed with the internationally renowned classical baritone Thomas Quasthoffin Vienna as part of the Shine a Light Ambassadorship Honoring Tour – Shine A Light Ambassadors.

In 2018, Jocelyn was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by the German president Frank Walter Steinmeier for her social engagement.

2019 – She recieved the Cross of Merit from the governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller.

2020 – She recieved the Beethoven award for her social engagement and activism.