This event has been ended!
Female Cadence: Pia Beck (Holland) mit dem Olga Reznichenko Trio
Event by: Jazz am Helmholtzplatz e.V.
Location: KUBIZ, Bernkasteler Straße 78, Berlin - Bezirk Pankow
About event
Saturday, November 15, 2025, 8 p.m., Kubiz Raoul Wallenberg, Bernkasteler Str 78, 13088 Berlin, entry 18-12 euros. Box office from 7:30 p.m. (cash only), presale via Eventbrite.
PIA BECK
presented by
OLGA REZNICHENKO TRIO
Olga Reznichenko – piano
Lorenz Heigenhuber – bass
Maximilian Stadtfeld – drums
The Dutch pianist and singer Pia Beck (1925-2009) was one of the most popular jazz musicians in Europe in the 1950s. Born in The Hague in 1925, she began playing the piano as a child. After her first performances during the war years, she became a pianist and singer in the Miller Sextet in 1945, with whom she toured Europe and Indonesia. In 1949 she founded her own trio and scored a hit with Pia's Boogie, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and became her trademark.
In the following years, Beck toured all over Europe, played regularly in the Netherlands in “De Vlieder Hollander” and from 1952 also appeared in the USA - for example in the famous Birdland in New York. There she experienced encounters with many jazz greats, received a lot of recognition and even became an honorary citizen of New Orleans and Atlanta. In 1956, Time magazine dedicated a portrait to her and gave her the nickname “The Flying Dutchess”.
Beck was a brilliant pianist with great stage presence who combined jazz, swing and boogie with lightness and humor. She sang in several languages, loved the show, drove fast cars and confidently presented herself as a star. At the same time, her style remained accessible: as she herself said, she wanted to “entertain and play for people.”
In the mid-1960s she retired to Spain with her partner Marga Samsonowski and their children. There she ran a piano bar, hosted radio shows, worked as a real estate agent and wrote travel guides. Nevertheless, she remained connected to music and returned to the Dutch stage again in the 1970s - with major concerts, new records and tours, among others. with the Dutch Swing College Band. She could also be heard at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Beck's stance as an openly lesbian musician was particularly important at a time when homosexuality was still very taboo. Together with Samsonowski, she lived this partnership without secrecy. In 1977 she took part in the protest concert “Miami Nightmare” at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, which was directed against the homophobic campaign by US singer Anita Bryant. Beck never wanted to be seen exclusively as a symbolic figure of the movement, but she made an important statement by being openly and visibly committed.
Even though her popularity in the 1980s and 1990s was primarily nostalgic, Pia Beck remained active well into her old age. In 2000 she celebrated her 75th year and 60th stage anniversary with a big anniversary concert. Three years later she said goodbye to the stage for good.
Pia Beck died in Torremolinos in 2009, a few months after the death of her partner. She left behind a rich musical work and the memory of an extraordinary woman who set standards as a musician, entertainer and personality - and who was at the same time a pioneer for visibility and self-determination.
OLGA REZNICHENKO
Olga Reznichenko is a pianist and composer from Russia who now lives in Leipzig and is part of the younger German jazz scene. Her music combines influences from classical, contemporary improvisation and jazz. She leads her own ensembles and is also a sought-after side musician. https://www.olgareznichenko.com/
LORENZ HEIGENHUBER
Lorenz Heigenhuber is a German jazz bassist (double bass and electric bass) who belongs to the younger generation. Between 2008 and 2011 he was a member of the Bavarian State Youth Jazz Orchestra. He later studied in Munich, among others, and in Leipzig from around 2017. He cooperates with bands such as the Olga Reznichenko Trio (album Somnambule, 2022) and plays on Moritz Stahl's album Traumszene (2024). In 2019 he received the City of Leipzig's Young Jazz Prize with the trio Heuken / Stadtfeld / Heigenhuber. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_Heigenhuber
MAXIMILIAN STADTFELD
Maximilian “Max” Stadtfeld is a German drummer from Konstanz. He lives and works in Leipzig, where he has been working as a freelancer since graduating (2018). His debut album Stax was released on the ACT label in 2019, followed by Suboptimal in 2022, and further projects have been announced. He often plays with his band STAX and is active in various young formations in southern and eastern Germany. Website:https://maxstadtfeld.com/
Background:
Female Cadence: Women in European Jazz around 1960 (October 2025 - January 2026) is dedicated to forgotten female musicians who had a decisive influence on jazz in Europe. The focus is on artists such as Lolita Garrido (Spain), Pia Beck (Netherlands), Colette Magny (France), German Tülay (Turkey), Kathy Stobart (Great Britain) and Ewa Wanat (Poland).
The project brings these artists back into the public consciousness by introducing Berlin musicians such as Olga Reznichenko, Mathilde Vendramin, Lucia Boffo, Pinar Tatlikazan, Birgitta Flick and Ola Blachno and their ensembles reinterpret, transcribe and combine works by these women with their own artistic positions. This creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between politically motivated music history and today's jazz avant-garde.
In addition to six concerts in venues such as the Brotfabrik and the Kubiz Raoul Wallenberg, the series includes lectures and a program booklet. A podcast will then be created. This makes female jazz history lastingly visible and at the same time opens up a discourse about the social conditions of these musicians - patriarchal structures and authoritarian regimes come into focus. The aim is also to take a look at today's conditions in jazz and to present current artistic positions of female jazz and improvisational music musicians.
The concert series is intended as a contribution to making forgotten female biographies visible and as a reflection on the extent to which artistic expression and social protest are intertwined then and now.
Funded by the Musikfonds e.V. with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.
Idea and implementation: Regina Câmara
PIA BECK
presented by
OLGA REZNICHENKO TRIO
Olga Reznichenko – piano
Lorenz Heigenhuber – bass
Maximilian Stadtfeld – drums
The Dutch pianist and singer Pia Beck (1925-2009) was one of the most popular jazz musicians in Europe in the 1950s. Born in The Hague in 1925, she began playing the piano as a child. After her first performances during the war years, she became a pianist and singer in the Miller Sextet in 1945, with whom she toured Europe and Indonesia. In 1949 she founded her own trio and scored a hit with Pia's Boogie, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and became her trademark.
In the following years, Beck toured all over Europe, played regularly in the Netherlands in “De Vlieder Hollander” and from 1952 also appeared in the USA - for example in the famous Birdland in New York. There she experienced encounters with many jazz greats, received a lot of recognition and even became an honorary citizen of New Orleans and Atlanta. In 1956, Time magazine dedicated a portrait to her and gave her the nickname “The Flying Dutchess”.
Beck was a brilliant pianist with great stage presence who combined jazz, swing and boogie with lightness and humor. She sang in several languages, loved the show, drove fast cars and confidently presented herself as a star. At the same time, her style remained accessible: as she herself said, she wanted to “entertain and play for people.”
In the mid-1960s she retired to Spain with her partner Marga Samsonowski and their children. There she ran a piano bar, hosted radio shows, worked as a real estate agent and wrote travel guides. Nevertheless, she remained connected to music and returned to the Dutch stage again in the 1970s - with major concerts, new records and tours, among others. with the Dutch Swing College Band. She could also be heard at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Beck's stance as an openly lesbian musician was particularly important at a time when homosexuality was still very taboo. Together with Samsonowski, she lived this partnership without secrecy. In 1977 she took part in the protest concert “Miami Nightmare” at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, which was directed against the homophobic campaign by US singer Anita Bryant. Beck never wanted to be seen exclusively as a symbolic figure of the movement, but she made an important statement by being openly and visibly committed.
Even though her popularity in the 1980s and 1990s was primarily nostalgic, Pia Beck remained active well into her old age. In 2000 she celebrated her 75th year and 60th stage anniversary with a big anniversary concert. Three years later she said goodbye to the stage for good.
Pia Beck died in Torremolinos in 2009, a few months after the death of her partner. She left behind a rich musical work and the memory of an extraordinary woman who set standards as a musician, entertainer and personality - and who was at the same time a pioneer for visibility and self-determination.
OLGA REZNICHENKO
Olga Reznichenko is a pianist and composer from Russia who now lives in Leipzig and is part of the younger German jazz scene. Her music combines influences from classical, contemporary improvisation and jazz. She leads her own ensembles and is also a sought-after side musician. https://www.olgareznichenko.com/
LORENZ HEIGENHUBER
Lorenz Heigenhuber is a German jazz bassist (double bass and electric bass) who belongs to the younger generation. Between 2008 and 2011 he was a member of the Bavarian State Youth Jazz Orchestra. He later studied in Munich, among others, and in Leipzig from around 2017. He cooperates with bands such as the Olga Reznichenko Trio (album Somnambule, 2022) and plays on Moritz Stahl's album Traumszene (2024). In 2019 he received the City of Leipzig's Young Jazz Prize with the trio Heuken / Stadtfeld / Heigenhuber. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_Heigenhuber
MAXIMILIAN STADTFELD
Maximilian “Max” Stadtfeld is a German drummer from Konstanz. He lives and works in Leipzig, where he has been working as a freelancer since graduating (2018). His debut album Stax was released on the ACT label in 2019, followed by Suboptimal in 2022, and further projects have been announced. He often plays with his band STAX and is active in various young formations in southern and eastern Germany. Website:https://maxstadtfeld.com/
Background:
Female Cadence: Women in European Jazz around 1960 (October 2025 - January 2026) is dedicated to forgotten female musicians who had a decisive influence on jazz in Europe. The focus is on artists such as Lolita Garrido (Spain), Pia Beck (Netherlands), Colette Magny (France), German Tülay (Turkey), Kathy Stobart (Great Britain) and Ewa Wanat (Poland).
The project brings these artists back into the public consciousness by introducing Berlin musicians such as Olga Reznichenko, Mathilde Vendramin, Lucia Boffo, Pinar Tatlikazan, Birgitta Flick and Ola Blachno and their ensembles reinterpret, transcribe and combine works by these women with their own artistic positions. This creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between politically motivated music history and today's jazz avant-garde.
In addition to six concerts in venues such as the Brotfabrik and the Kubiz Raoul Wallenberg, the series includes lectures and a program booklet. A podcast will then be created. This makes female jazz history lastingly visible and at the same time opens up a discourse about the social conditions of these musicians - patriarchal structures and authoritarian regimes come into focus. The aim is also to take a look at today's conditions in jazz and to present current artistic positions of female jazz and improvisational music musicians.
The concert series is intended as a contribution to making forgotten female biographies visible and as a reflection on the extent to which artistic expression and social protest are intertwined then and now.
Funded by the Musikfonds e.V. with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.
Idea and implementation: Regina Câmara