NDR Bigband / Evi Filippou

Evi Filippou - InEVItable

"Good music by good people" is the simple formula with which Evi Filippou, who originally comes from Greece, outlines her artistic goals. In close collaboration with the trumpeter and arranger Tim Hagans, Evi Filippou has composed a concert programme that brings together the different worlds of her work between jazz, classical and improvised music, Greece and Central Europe.

Born in 1993 in the harbour town of Volos on the Greek mainland, Evi Filippou initially trained as a percussionist and vibraphonist in the field of classical music. But when she came to Berlin in 2011, she soon felt the urge to broaden her spectrum. "Everything was so pretty at university, I wanted something harder to balance it all out," she recalls in an interview, "I was looking for something with which I could express more of myself." The answer was jazz. Improvisation.

Between worlds

As an extraordinarily versatile and brilliant musician, Evi Filippou had quickly gained recognition, both in the classical field and in the jazz scene, she is a highly sought-after figure. But at some point she sensed that there was a music that was particularly close to her heart, a music that no one had ever written before, a music in which her experience of two homelands was preserved. Evi Filippou began to compose, preferably writing pieces for her quintet InEVItable.

Between generations

In translating her compositions into the language of a full-fledged jazz big band, Evi Filippou is now supported by trumpeter and arranger Tim Hagans. Hagans will also lead the band in the performance of InEVItable, so that Evi Filippou herself can contribute to the warmth of her music with her playing.