The Vienna-based tenor saxophonist, clarinettist and composer Leonhard Skorupa is a real prankster who sets no limits to his imagination. Probably in order to open up a tangible terrain for his urge to walk a stylistic tightrope. The mere enumeration of his musical construction sites is enough to give a vague idea of the Skorupa cosmos. As a bandleader or co-leader, the woodwind player has led such original and well-known projects as the Sketchbook Orchestra, the Sketchbook Quartet, Skorupa 5 and other exciting ensembles in the sphere of jazz and improvised music. He studied with Klaus Dickbauer and Michael Moore and has since released more than 25 recordings. In 2024 Skorupa formed the Quispel Quintet made up of top-tier musicians. Their adventurous compositions and improvisations follow an unpredictable dramatic arc — one that winds through the landscapes of cool jazz and the depths of avant-garde chamber music What they create together is, at times, subtle and refined — and at others, wildly intoxicating. Their album, fittingly, is called “Dipsomania” — an old term for an insatiable craving for alcohol and drugs. It was met with widespread critical acclaim. Writing a new piece of music, Skorupa is commissioned to the opening night of 45.Skopje Jazz Festival, expanding his basic Quispel Quintet with three Macedonian musicians.