Founded in 1945 as a radio ensemble, the Dutch Metropole Orkest has developed a wide-ranging repertoire of jazz and pop, chanson, world and film music. With its unique line-up, it has its own distinctive sound and is considered the world’s leading pop and jazz orchestra. Multiple Grammy winner Vince Mendoza was the orchestra’s chief conductor until 2013. He was succeeded by Jules Buckley in October of that year. The composer, arranger and conductor is known for being a musical pioneer, who pushes the boundaries of contemporary genres. The orchestra have worked with many jazz and pop stars, including Tori Amos, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Aznavour, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Cocker and Shirley Bassey. In 2013 the orchestra made its debut at the Musikfest Bremen with star guest Kurt Elling and since then they have regularly wowed the audiences of the long jazz nights in the Überseestadt at »Musikfest Goes Overseas« with top guest stars such as Gregory Porter, Laura Mvula and Gonzalo Rubalcaba (2014), Ibrahim Maalouf, Joshua Redman and Lalah Hathaway (2015), Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and Snarky Puppy (2016), Jacob Collier and Bokanté (2018) as well as Jazzmeia Horn and José James (2019). In 2017, the three-time Grammy winners were a hit at the »Summertime« Open Air in Bremerhaven, for which they shared the stage with Dee Dee Bridgewater and Kurt Elling, and in 2018 they presented »Metropole Orkest meets China Moses« in Papenburg. The Metropole Orkest and its chief conductor Jules Buckley were also honoured with the Musikfest Bremen Prize in that year. Last year, the open-air Musikfest finale on Bremen's market square, launched in 2021, also provided the perfect stage for Europe's only big band with a full string section, featuring singer Sheléa.