Projects

Ensembles

  • Solo

    Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone & electronics)

  • CAECILIAN

    Ben Bennett (US, percussion), Jonas Engel (DE, reeds), Asger Thomsen (DK, double bass)

  • ZEVRA

    Fan-Qi Wu (TW, pipa), Niloufar Shiri (IR, kamancheh), Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone), Matthew Ryals (US, modular synth)

    Watch on Instagram
  • OWN YOUR BONES

    Karlis Auzins (LV, saxophone), David Helm (DE, double bass), Dominik Mahnig (CH, drums), Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone)

  • Ø

    Jonas Engel (DE, alto sax, clarinet, modified p-trumpet), Andrea Bazzicalupo (IT, guitar), Asger Thomsen (DK, double bass)

  • Lucatelli / Engel / Mahnig

    Marcela Lucatelli (BR, voice), Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone & winds), Dominik Mahnig (CH, drums)

  • GEM GAR

    Anna Größbrink (DE, double bass), Matthew Ryals (US, modular synth), Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone)

  • ENGELTHOMSEN

    Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone), Asger Thomsen (DK, double bass)

    Watch on Instagram
  • Just Another Foundry

    Jonas Engel (DE, tenor saxophone), Florian Herzog (DE, double bass), Anthony Greminger (DE, drums)

  • Our Hearts As Thieves

    Eliot Cardinaux (US, piano), Jonas Engel (DE, saxophone), Asger Thomsen (DK, double bass), Etienne Nillesen (NL, drums & percussion)

  • Copenhagen Clarinet Choir

    Anders Banke (DK, clarinet), Jonas Engel (DE, clarinet), Francesco Bigoni (IT, clarinet), Carolyn Goodwin (IE, clarinet), Maria Dybbroe (DK, clarinet), Henriette Groth (DK, clarinet)

Curation

Impakt & Bruitkasten

Jonas Engel is chairman of Impakt, a Cologne collective of around ten musicians working in free improvisation. Founded in 2013 as a newsletter and concert calendar, Impakt has grown into a label with its own regularly running concert series, aiming to give improvised and experimental music more visibility in a city where it still competes for attention against more established scenes.

Its flagship series, Bruitkasten, a play on the French word bruit, takes place twice a month at a storefront gallery space on Ebertplatz. Lineups range from established touring ensembles to musicians and performers of all kinds meeting for the very first time on stage; the point is to create a space for improvisation and experimentation in the here and now while it is still alive, rather than being programmed years in advance. The series has received the APPLAUS Award in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

APPLAUS Award 2023 APPLAUS Award 2024 APPLAUS Award 2025