JAM student and vocalist Carla Kaltenböck wins Ö1 Jazzstipendium 2026
The jury has spoken: for the ninth time, the Ö1 Jazz Scholarship was awarded in 2026, and the winner is Carla Kaltenböck. The 23-year-old singer will receive a two-year course of study at the JAM MUSIC LAB Private University in Vienna as well as a CD production with Quinton Records, the Vienna-based label of producer Andreas Rathammer. Kaltenböck thus follows in the footsteps of Robert Unterköfler (2018), Lukas Aichinger (2019), Constanze Friedel (2020), Madeleine Kaindl (2021), Alan Bartuš (2022), Andreas Varady (2023), Nina Feldgrill (2024), and Thomas Quendler (2025), all of whom previously received the Ö1 Jazz Scholarship from the jury. In 2025, the jury was expanded from three to six members: alongside guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, U.S. producer Jeffrey Levenson, and Ö1 Head of Jazz Editorial Andreas Felber, the panel now also includes Elke Tschaikner (Head of the Ö1 Music Department), Anke Fischer (Elbphilharmonie Hamburg), and Dietmar Petschl (ORF Television Culture). JAM MUSIC LAB rector Marcus Ratka presented Carla Kaltenböck with the jazz scholarship certificate on Ö1 Jazz Day, April 30, 2026, at the Treibhaus venue in Innsbruck during the evening Ö1 live concert broadcast.
Carla Kaltenböck, born on December 8, 2002, in Baden near Vienna, grew up in Austria’s capital in an art-loving family: her mother is a visual artist, while her father was himself active as a singer in his younger years and owns a vast record collection in which jazz plays a prominent role. Kaltenböck’s passion for this music ignited early. She took private vocal lessons with Jessica Slavik and Anna Anderluh, as well as jazz saxophone lessons with Lukas Schiemer. Beginning in autumn 2022, she studied jazz vocals at the JAM MUSIC LAB Private University, first with Chanda Rule and later with Maja Jaku. At the same time, she gained stage experience in several bands, including her jazz quartet Carla’s Cafe and the neo-soul project Orange Orchid, with which she released the EP Blooming Pulse in April 2025.
“I feel deeply connected to the history of jazz, the styles, and the vocal techniques behind it. I love playing with the voice, with timbres, with the pronunciation of words, with the question of which syllables you really lean into. Jazz gives you a lot of space for that. I see myself more as a vocalist than as a singer,” Carla Kaltenböck explained in conversation with the author of these lines, describing her artistic self-image. Among her musical role models, she names U.S. jazz greats such as Betty Carter and Kurt Elling, British folk and soul singer Lianne La Havas, and the Australian neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote, especially its singer and guitarist Nai Palm. Another source of inspiration for Kaltenböck is the American vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose vividly theatrical song performances she admires. Kaltenböck adds: “The storytelling aspect is very important to me. My starting points are always poems or stories. After that, I think about how I can translate them into a song. The theatrical, playful, sometimes even absurd elements are essential for me when telling a story—it’s not enough for me to simply reproduce the words.”
Carla Kaltenböck has demonstrated perseverance: twice before, she had advanced to the finals of the six best applicants for the Ö1 Jazz Scholarship, but only on her third attempt did she emerge as the winner. With her audition performance in Studio 2 of Vienna’s RadioKulturhaus, she impressed the jury with vivid, captivating interpretations of her own songs—and with the finely tuned ensemble Carla’s Cafe, featuring pianist Tom Silver, double bassist Azin Seraj, and drummer Max Plattner. In her own words: “I learned a great deal from my previous applications and have grown tremendously over the past few years. Now my compositions have matured to the point where I’m ready to release them on an album. This was the right moment!”
Kaltenböck can now continue her studies at the JAM MUSIC LAB free of charge and further develop her artistry. The debut album by Carla’s Cafe will be titled Dream Archives and is set to be released in the coming months. In this way, a biographical circle also comes full turn: Carla’s Cafe was also the name of her father’s last band before he decided to stop singing and instead founded a software company. Daughter Carla has now picked up the thread again and, it seems, is bringing her father’s dream of a professional singing career to life. The signs are certainly promising!
Text: Andreas Felber, Head of the Ö1 Department for Jazz, Popular, and World Music
