Brainteaser Orchestra does what it was set out to do; lead the way. Wybenga dares to be unapologetic, yet playful, with the orchestra showing great promise both as a group as with its members.

The orchestra achieves remarkable musical synergy of jazz and electronics through Wybenga’s unique composition methods. All of Brainteaser’s pieces start out from fragments of recorded solo improvisations by its members, which Wybenga samples and rearranges to form new music like a hip hop producer, spurning the nickname “Duke Electronicton” – which is more than just a pun. The Brainteaser Orchestra truly is a 21st century update of large jazz ensembles in the tradition of Duke Ellington, mixing jazz with hiphop, electronics and forward thinking classical music.

Wybenga is able to create alternating spotlights for all of the orchestra’s many delights – the sweeping melodicism of violinists George Dimitriu and Yanna Pelser, the rough and rowdy cubism of trombonist Nabou Claerhout and clarinettist Federico Calcagno, and the incandescent rhythms of bassist Allesandro Fongaro – without ever losing unity. Rather, the band’s conglomerate of talent elevates all of its members to greater heights. Wybenga’s compositions act as particle accelerators, clashing together the minds of his musicians and exuding radiant musical waves, creating “hugely inventive and fast-thinking music” (UK Jazz News) which is “subtly layered, richly variegated and compelling” (De Volkskrant).

In the years following their debut album, the orchestra became an innovative and influential force in the European jazz scene, headlining festivals like Südtirol Jazz Festival (AT) and Saalfelden Jazz Festival (DE), and performing at many others, including North Sea Jazz (NL), Jazzahead (DE), and Jazz Sous le Pommiers (FR).

Brainteaser Orchestra inescapably captivates audiences with their “infectious enthusiasm”, according to the French magazine Citizen Jazz, who conclude that “an orchestra like this is an opportunity for anyone who lives for music and adventure.”

At Südtirol Jazz Festival the band underscored their reputation as a band of bandleaders, opening the festival and subsequently filling nearly the entire festival line up with the individual acts of its 13 members.

The second album of the Brainteaser Orchestra is due in 2026, and features music which was commissioned by the legendary Amsterdam jazz club the BIMHUIS for their 50th birthday. For this album, the Brainteaser Orchestra teams up with the internationally renowned saxophonist Otis Sandjö, violin maestro Theo Ceccaldi, hiphop vocalist Pink Oculus, and internationally renowned singer Lizz Wright.