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"My secret love affair"

This is how Israeli singer Efrat Alony describes her relationship to the work of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel.

She approached his music in the spirit of jazz, her true musical home. The result of this genre-crossing rendezvous is a remarkable album entitled "Handel- Fast Forward" for which Alony received the OPUS Klassik award 2024.

Alony's new interpretations of Handel's arias convinced the Opus Klassik jury in the "Classical Without Borders" category – "Proof of her unique vision and creativity."

My secret love affair with Handels body of work, his unapologetic emotionality and rigorous aim for a momentary TRUTH - sparked a wave of musical ideas within me, I was eager to explore.

Led by the Spirit of Jazz, I embarked on a wild dance to the beat of Handels Baroque drum.

As if I were glancing at a time-traveling-child, devoid of legacies of Right & Wrongs, recognizing familiar faces, unforgettable melodies , bewildered yet unafraid by the foreign colors and smells. These movements started revising and reshaping the music, exploring the similarities and celebrating the differences.

I found myself shifting between questions and answers, witnessing a marvelous pirouette of kindred spirits – Baroque & Jazz, swaying, side by side.

Efrat Alony

watch the complete NDR Kultur EXTRA broadcast

Efrat Alony & Philipp Nykrin

Händel - Fast Forward

Efrat Alony – Vocals, Electronics, Arrangements
Philipp Nykrin – Piano, Electronics

Händel- Fast Forward

Alony’s passion for Handel’s music is unmistakable. The inspiration she draws is profoundly audible; with every stroke of her masterful vocal brush, with every unexpected harmony, that wraps- and at times even rattles Handel's wonderful and trusted melodies. Her interpretation of his music is marvellous and distinct.

Extremely unique, unheard of.

Originally composed for a quartet with vocals and piano trio, Efrat Alony presents her very personal Handel here in a minimal ensemble with Philipp Nykrin on piano, with the duo expanding the album's originally purely acoustic music by adding targeted electronic sound components.

Handel's Airs from Operas such as "Theodora", "Lucrezia", "Ottone" , "Alexander Balus" or "Saul" are a magical vessel through which the wonders of Alony's fabulous instrument unfold.

A strong, soulful voice, its wast depth, almost haunts you. A marvellous shape-shifting being, that slips in and out of different characters and emotions. Like a magician who knows too well the exact amounts of each ingredient in order to create the perfect potion, she allures us to unexpected, unknown avenues, and we - the listeners- follow blindly- we’re allowed a peak into the mystery, its most powerful and most frail moments.

Geheimnisvolle Schattierungen, detailscharfe Kontraste und traumverlorene, eindringliche Stimmungen erwarten den Hörer von Efrat Alony in ihrem Klangkosmos der "ausgefeilten Töne"

Norbert Krampf in der FAZ.

"Untamable. The Israeli singer Efrat Alony bewilders with her voice, beauty and intellect. (…) Her timbre seduces us - to unstintingly listen."

Tom R. Schulz , "Die Zeit"

I'm not sure that there is a category for what Alony does. I'm not sure that there should be. Call it music.

Artsjournal, Doug Ramsey

Videos

a few visual-bites

from the NDR kultur EXTRA performance

to watch the complete show:

NDR kultur EXTRA

Efrat Alony – voice, arrangements

The award-winning Israeli singer & composer Efrat Alony is now one of the most important voices in European jazz.

With her artistic profile, Alony stands for distinctive, independent, and high-quality music.

Alony received the German Jazz Prize 2022 ( best vocal album of the year) for her album "Hollywood isn't Calling" as Best Vocal Album of the Year, has approached Handel's classical material with a fast-forward approach in the spirit of jazz—her true musical home. This genre-crossing rendezvous resulted in a remarkable album, " Handel-Fast Forward" for which Efrat Alony received the OPUS Klassik award 2024 in the "Classical Music Without Borders" category last year.

Born in Haifa, Israel, as a daughter of Jewish Iraqi new comers, singer Efrat Alony studied composition, arranging, jazz singing and classical singing in Israel, Germany and the U.S.

Parallel to a successful and rich career as a band leader Efrat was a featured as a soloist with many Big-Bands such as the Sunday Night Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw(Amsterdam), the Radio Big Band Frankfurt, the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, the Zurich Jazz Orchestra, the Swiss Jazz Orchetsra as well as the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra.

Efrat has worked as a performer, musical director and vocal coach for various theatre productions, such with the renowned American director Robert Wilson.

In 2006 she was awarded the Jazz Performance Prize of the Karl Hofer Society and the Jazz Institute Berlin. in 2008 and in 2010 she received the City of Berlin Jazz Award. In 2009 Alony recieved the „Nürnberg Nachrichten International Jazz award“ and in 2010 she was nominated for the BMW world Jazz award. In 2014 Efrat received the "german music author's prize"of the GEMA for Jazz composition.

In 2019 Efrat received the "Best foreign artist award" of the "Artemis Film Festival" in L.A for her composition "Hear Me"

"Untamable. The Israeli singer Efrat Alony bewilders with her voice, beauty and intellect. (…) Her timbre seduces us - to listen unstintingly."

Tom R. Schulz , "Die Zeit"

"….The music hits you with full force. Efrat Alony, with her dazzling versatile singing, enriches scat singing with sighs and lamentations and shows that Hebrew can both comfort and glow, like a candle…" Josef Engels, "Berliner Morgenpost"

"Her voice is a lusty cross between Joni Mitchell's folk wisdom and Amy Winehouse's rolling purr. Alony's voice is highly trained, but what's most fascinating is her original music and lyrics. The style isn't quite jazz but something new and cutting edge... While I confess you may need to recalibrate your sensibility a bit to fully appreciate what Alony is doing, the journey is well worth it." Marc Meyers, JazzWax.com

"…Efrat Alony completely is at home in her music. She commands her extraordinarily cultured alto voice with confidence… she sends shivers down your spine. …Alony treads exciting new paths. Her daring experiments are both refreshing and intense. The compositions – at times peaceful, at times stormy – are even more vivacious in a live performance than on her wonderful debut album merry-go-round"…

Birgit Nüchterlein, Nürnberger Nachrichten

alony.de

Phillip Nykrin – Piano

Salzburg native Philipp Nykrin is well known for his stylistic versatility and the finnes complexity of his playing, always arising from the moment of musical inspiration. His agility and diverse skills make him one of the busiest musicians in his field in Austria. His leading roles as producer, composer, and leader or co-leader encompass his own projects (Philipp Nykrin Trio, Namby Pamby Boy, Common Sense) as well as his long-standing collaboration with rapper Nina Fiva Sonnenberg. As a musical ambassador of contemporary Austrian jazz, Philipp Nykrin was part of the "The New Austrian Sound of Music" funding program of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. Among the highlights of his career is the commission for a composition by the International Jazz Festival Saalfelden in 2014. On this occasion, he consciously chose to present an all-Austrian ensemble in the Wire Resistance project, further deepening established collaborations. He lives and works as a freelance musician in Vienna and has also held teaching positions at both the Jazz Institute of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and the Institute for Jazz and Improvised Music at the Anton Bruckner Private University Upper Austria. On October 1, 2023, Philipp Nykrin took up a professorship for "Keyboard Instruments in Popular Music" at the Institute for Popular Music (ipop) of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

philippnykrin.com