BMW continues supporting the jazz music by launching the fifth annual the BMW Welt Jazz Award to celebrate prominent jazzmen from around the globe. The latest installment of the competition will focus on drummers. The brand will be hosting six “Leading Drums» free-admission Sunday matinees at the BMW Welt Double Cone, providing gifted jazz drummers from around the globe an opportunity to demonstrate their talent.

Photo: The BMW Welt Jazz Award announced the 5th-year program, «Leading Drums»

“Drummers have always been the driving force of jazz. While jazz has expanded during past decades to encompass virtually all styles, drummers have also refined and enhanced their technique, style and sound,” says the brand. The matinees will be hosted from January through March 2013, then, the jury will select two of the six shortlisted ensembles, which will then compete at the great finale at the BMW Welt Auditorium on April 20. The brand will award the winner with €10,000 plus a trophy designed exclusively for the event by BMW Design, and it will also give €5,000 to the runner-up. BMW also invites public to determine their favourite—the contestant with the best average mark after assessment of all concerts. Such an ensemble or an artist will be awarded an exclusive stay and an appearance at Schloss Elmau, a luxury hotel. Learn more about the program.

“Apart from the choice of trendsetting musicians with their own unique styles, the BMW Welt Jazz Award also excels through its thematic parenthesis, consistently allowing us to keep track of current trends in the international scene. The fifth anniversary of the series will present drummers who are not only rhythmical accompanists, but also composers and bandleaders–which again addresses one of the today’s most significant developments in jazz,” commented Oliver Hochkeppel, chairman of the jury.