Off to New Horizons

Efrat Alony- voc, electronics

Vincent Pongracz- clarinet, electronics

Raphael Preuschl- bass, electronics

András Dés- percussion

Off to New Horizons

The cards have been reshuffled

A new city, new boost of energy, fresh inspiration, exciting new encounters with marvellous musicians, who stir you up - turning my thoughts inside out, in the best possible way- offering a new perspective.

New impulses which open up

new horizons.

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.

Her album, "Hollywood Isn't Calling," was awarded Best Vocal Album of the Year at the 2022 German Jazz Prize, and the track "My Shorthand Modes of Perception" was nominated for Best Composition.

Her album, "Handel - Fast Forward," has also been celebrated by the press and received the prestigious Opus Klassik Award 2024 in the "Classical Music Without Borders" category.

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

Repeating herself is out of the question for the artist. For her, jazz, indeed art, means always taking risks, asking questions, dismantling structures – and yes, why not contradict one's former self at some point? For Alony, art is movement and fearlessness.

Now the musical cards have been reshuffled – with new, extraordinary protagonists coming together:

with Vincent Pongracz on clarinet, Rapahel Preuschl on bass, and András Dés on percussion, an exciting interplay emerges, full of sparkling lightness and creativity, hinting at new musical horizons that allow Alony's poetry to unfold even more dynamically. Her powerful, soulful voice effortlessly slips into a wide variety of characters and emotions, constantly taking on new forms. As modern storytellers, the new trio lends the music both strength and fragility through its inexhaustible vitality: a skillful, captivating interplay of contrasts and depth with a playful wink.

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

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.

Videos

a few visual-bites

before the upcoming recording

Efrat Alony – Vocals

"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

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"

alony.de

Raphael Preuschl – Bass

Raphael was born in 1977 in Vienna. At the age of 14 he began to study bass-guitar at the Schubert-conservatory and upright-bass at the Konservatorium Wien. At about the same time he began performing live in various bands, soon became a high in demand bassist in the Viennese music-scene and a member of the creative musicians-collective JazzWerkstatt Wien. As a member of the Alex Machacek’s FAT (Abstract Logix), David Helbock-Trio (ACT), and Wolfgang Puschnigs Homegrown (Skylark-Production), among many other groups, Raphael travels all around the world, performing at international Jazz-Festivals and giving masterclasses around the globe. Raphael is a pioneer and trend-setter in playing the bass-ukulele, which is an unique and huge sounding small-sized bass-instrument.

blackagate.net

Vincent Pongracz – Clarinet

vincentpongracz.com

András Dés – Percussion

András Dés was born in Budapest and now lives in Vienna. He considers himself mainly as a jazz musician, but his openness to diverse forms of expression is reflected in his genre-crossing work: he has collaborated extensively with folk musicians, explored contemporary classical music, and enjoys performing with writers and poets. His innovative approach to combining percussion and drumming techniques has led to collaborations with numerous internationally renowned artists, including jazz legends and masters of some of the world’s most beautiful folk traditions. He has participated in over 100 recordings, five of them as bandleader.

andrasdes.com