Görlitzer Park

If in a recent past it was a rarity, nowadays more and more classical musicians find in improvisation - and inclusively in the jazz language - an extra medium of musical creativity. That’s the case of the vibraphonist and marimba player Taiko Saito, complementing that dual frame with aspects coming from the Japanese tradition.

For more than fifteen years, Sivert Høyem has dreamed of being allowed to play live concert in the 2,000-year-old Herod Atticus Odeon Amphitheater of Acropolis. And so is last year, on 29.09. And 02.10.2016, his dream come true: Høyem has indeed been one of the very few musicians to get permission from the Greek authorities to play two live shows in the venerable amphitheater. And on these two days, Sivert has played 10,000 enthusiastic fans. These two shows were of course also audiovisual documented, and now these unique Acropolis recordings appear as a double live album and film. 110 minutes of live material Sivert Høyem at his best. He plays 16 of his classics, covering 20 years of his career as a solo artist and lead singer of the band Madrugada. Ever since the release of Madrugada's debut album "Industrial Silence", Sivert Høyem has regularly played in Greece, creating an enthusiastic fanbase in Greece that has made such an unforgettable event possible.

If in a recent past it was a rarity, nowadays more and more classical musicians find in improvisation – and inclusively in the jazz language – an extra medium of musical creativity. That’s the case of the vibraphonist and marimba player Taiko Saito, complementing that dual frame with aspects coming from the Japanese tradition. An interpreter of the music of contemporary composer Sofia Gubaidulina who also played with marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe, David Friedman and free improv with Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Saito co-founded a duo with the German avant-jazz pianist Niko Meinhold, responding with the album “Koko” (2006) to the emblematic “Crystal Silence” (1973), by the ground-breaking vibraphone-piano duet of Gary Burton and Chick Corea.

A Year With 13 Moons is the 2015 album by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. This was released by Kemado Records, Inc.