Philharmonie trifft Jazz »Different Eyes«

In the organizer's words:

The classically trained Israeli jazz pianist and composer Uriel Herman has established himself as a formative voice in both the international jazz scene and the world of contemporary music over the past ten years. His most recent album "Different Eyes" was voted one of the ten best jazz albums of 2023 by the British newspaper "The Guardian". His creative partnership with the Jena Philharmonic dates back to 2019, when Herman composed three works for the Uriel Herman Quartet and Orchestra, demonstrating his ability to combine virtuoso improvisation and classical sound language in a coherent way. He now returns to Jena for two concerts.

Following the world premiere of his symphonic suite "Tikkun" at Friday Concert № 6 on 29 May 2026, he will be moving even closer to the audience at "Philharmonie trifft Jazz" on this evening: his album title "Different Eyes" will become the program. Together with seven musicians from the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, he will open up new perspectives on familiar and more distant soundscapes. The spectrum ranges from Israeli songs to Brazilian classics by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". These pieces do not appear as mere quotations, but as finely crafted new arrangements for piano and chamber ensemble. In them - as in Herman's own compositions - jazz energy, Middle Eastern rhythms and classical instruments merge into a pulsating whole. It is music that transcends boundaries and sheds new light on familiar horizons.

Program

Uriel Herman:
"Jerusalem" for flute, violin, piano and double bass

"White Night Rhapsody" for jazz quartet and orchestra
(Arr. for flute, trumpet, violin, piano, violoncello, marimba, piano and double bass)

"Fantasy" for flute, violin, congas, trumpet, piano, violoncello and double bass

Mordechai Zeira:
"Hayu Leylot", song
(Arr. for piano solo by Uriel Herman)

Antônio Carlos Jobim:
"Luiza", song
(Arr. for piano solo by Uriel Herman)

Pixinguinha:
"Carinhoso", Choro
(Arr. for piano solo by Uriel Herman)

Uriel Herman:
"Shva Esre" for flute, trumpet, piano, marimba, double bass and percussion

Rivka Gvili:
"Pizmon La'Yakinton", song
(Arr. for violoncello and piano by Uriel Herman)

Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl:
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
(Arr. for flute, violin, violoncello, double bass, trumpet, piano and frame drum by Uriel Herman)

Participants

Uriel Herman, piano
Musicians of the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra
Veronika Kinnunen, flute
Alexander Suchlich, trumpet and flugelhorn
Doralice Borosz, violin
Alexander Wegelin, violoncello
Przemysław Bobrowski, double bass
René Münch and Barnabás Fekete, percussion

Organizer

Jena Philharmonic Orchestra in cooperation with the AG Jazzmeile Thüringen and Jazz im Paradies e. V. as part of the Jazzmeile Thüringen