Yotam Silberstein (Israel) Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura (Japan) Sirens Big Band (Australia) The Vampires (Australia) come to The Street
[from the media release]
Imagine yourself in a place with wildly creative music infused with the aromas of diverse cultural landscapes. Come June, The Street Theatre takes you there presenting a colossal bill of music giants and remarkable jazz performances by artists from Israel, Japan, Australia and the US.
One of the world’s youngest acclaimed jazz artists making waves around the globe, Israeli music prodigy and award-winning guitarist, now New York-based, Yotam Silberstein will set down in Canberra for a one-night only performance at The Street. Canberra gets to be first place in Australia for audiences to experience his precision bebop lines and fleet-fingered improvisations before he performs at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Leading an all-star quartet featuring distinguished drummer Ari Hoenig, Yotam’s Australian debut is a showcase of original compositions incorporating Brazilian, world, blues and traditional influences.
The Street welcomes internationally acclaimed iconic Japanese-born musicians, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii, and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, as they come together with the Sirens Big Band to perform Fujii’s extraordinary Fukushima Suite and other works. Fujii and Tamura separately and together are two of the most original voices in contemporary jazz today. Their music spans many genres, blending jazz, contemporary classical, rock, and traditional Japanese music into an innovative synthesis instantly recognizable as theirs alone. Sirens Big Band, a predominately female band under the direction of bassist Jessica Dunn, add their distinctive Australian voice to this cross cultural collaboration made possible with the assistance of the Australian Japan Foundation.
Closer to home, The Vampires, Sydney’s widely acclaimed world-roots jazz group, described as a ‘distinctive gumbo’, launch their new album The Vampires Meet Lionel Loueke in Canberra. After years of musical development and ambitious preparation, the band set out to celebrate 10 years of music-making and touring throughout Australia, the UK, Canada and Europe. They brought out legendary West African-born guitarist Lionel Loueke for this milestone project, touring and recording an album together. The Vampires co-leader and saxophonist Jeremy Rose says “Lionel effortlessly joined The Vampires, normally a chordless quartet, for this project with humility and a way of collaborating that allowed his own influence and character to come through while perfectly fitting in as a member of the band”.
Since 2011, The Street has put a spotlight on jazz when it began developing a national forum around jazz in Australia’s capital city through bringing leading jazz artists together in Canberra and creating endless possibilities for new audience experiences and expectations.
