The Freedman Jazz Award Finalists 2015
The four finalists of the 2015 Freedman Jazz Award have been just been announced. They are Tal Cohen, Peter Farrar, Mike Rivett and Gian Slater.
The finalists come from all around Australia – Perth, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney – and they all bring a unique diversity of talents from performing, composing and teaching jazz. This year’s judges are the distinguished Australian musicians bassist Zoe Hauptmann, saxophonist David Theak and pianist Chris Cody.
Check out the music of all finalists here.
All the finalists can be heard in a special evening at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 20th July at 7.30pm. This annual event is a window into what’s happening now in jazz and has become a landmark event in the jazz calendar. Each of the finalists for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship will perform a set of music making for an unforgettable night of music and giving the audience a rare opportunity to hear some of the great talent that exists today. The winner of the 2015 Freedman Jazz Fellowship will be announced on Tuesday 21st July.
This year the evening will also be recorded by ABC Jazz for broadcast later in the year making the concert available to jazz fans around Australia. As well as covering the event the ABC is proud to announce that the 2015 Freedman Jazz Fellow will be offered three days in the ABC recording studios, in addition to $15,000 Fellowship.
The Freedman Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards for jazz in Australia, with an extraordinary group of musicians having received the award: guitarists Ben Hauptmann and James Muller, saxophonists Julien Wilson, Andrew Robinson and Matt Keegan, pianists Andrea Keller, Aaron Choulai, Matt McMahon, and Marc Hannaford, trumpeter Phil Slater, bassist Christopher Hall and vocalist Kristin Berardi.
The Four 2015 Finalists
Pianist Tal Cohen, from Perth, is currently based in Miami. Much of Tal’s unique piano style owes its roots to the Jewish folk songs and classical music he played in his formative years growing up in Israel.
Saxophonist Peter Farrar’s playing encompasses improvised music, jazz, Ethiopian music and more. He is a highly respected member of the Sydney music community and known as a creative inspirational musician with a distinctive voice in today’s jazz world.
Mike Rivett is an extremely talented jazz musician with a unique voice on the saxophone who has toured extensively. The Cairns based musician has toured the world playing with some of the greats of the jazz world in the USA, Europe and Asia.
Vocalist and composer Gian Slater, from Melbourne, is known as one of Australia’s most sought after and inventive creative musicians. She is known for her superb musicianship, her vision for vocal music, and powerful artistic integrity.
As Richard Letts of The Music Trust says,
“Every time, the candidates for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship bowl us over with their brilliant performances and originality. You can hear for yourself at the Freedman Jazz concert. Our most imaginative players show us fresh ways to look at jazz. One surprise follows another. This special concert at the Sydney Opera House happens only once a year and is not to be missed.”
The Jazz Fellowship of $15,000 is funded by the Freedman Foundation, managed by The Music Trust and administered by SIMA (Sydney improvised Music Association). This year ABC Jazz is the media partner for the Freedman Jazz Concert.
What: Special performance of the 2015 Freedam Jazz Awards Finalist
When: Monday, 20th July at 7.30pm
Where: Sydney Opera House
For more information about the 2015 Freeman Fellowship click here