London Jazz Festival, in association with BBC Radio 3, Friday 11 to Sunday 20 November 2011

Although currently based in Berlin, Katya Sourikova still considers herself to be a Londoner. After all, it was in London that she first began to explore Jazz and where she found her own musical voice as a pianist and composer. After years of classical training including the Guildhall and Royal College, she then immersed herself into the world of Jazz piano and composition, starting from a small studio in North London.

At this year’s London Jazz Festival, Sourikova will be performing material from her latest release Ivan’s Dream, which according to All about Jazz “moves freely and organically along the spectrum of jazz, both American and European, as well as folk music and classical music, all without subscribing fully to any genre but embracing it all”. Written several years ago while still in the UK, the compositions have been rearranged but still bear the same innocent freshness, clear ideas and melodic, cinematic narratives as when she first penned them in that North London Studio. 

We recently caught up with Sourikova to ask a few questions about what her return to London for the Jazz Festival means to her, and her plans for performing in the UK next year.

What are you most looking forward to about playing in the Festival?

 “Returning to London is great for me because it is the place where I grew up, and that has so far most shaped my musical personality, and where the energy and diversity originally inspired me to search for my own musical voice. It’s a wonderful opportunity to appear in front of a really discerning audience, and to see what kind of musical impact I can create – amongst an international audience, as well as my former colleagues!”

What is exciting to you about the London music scene at the moment? 

 “It is good to see that the boundaries of jazz and music in general are being stretched. In this regard I’m a big fan of Django Bates, whom one of my producers, Tim Adnitt, works with closely. I’m also happy to see that the free jazz scene, led by Evan Parker, is alive and kicking, as well as the emergence of a new generation of artists such as Gwilym Simcock doing so well. And the establishment of new venues that feature jazz and contemporary music such as the Forge in Camden is a very positive development and will hopefully attract new and wider audiences.”

What are three Festival highlights for you? 

 “Ornette Coleman, Gwilym Simcock Trio, Bill Frisell 858 Quartet +NeWt.”

What other plans do you have in store for the UK?

“I’m currently working on a musical dramatisation for 2012 called “Queen Maud Land”, to mark the 100th centenary of Captain Robert Scott’s mission to the South Pole. This is a big project for string orchestra and jazz and classical soloists together with narration, dance and electronics – and should be very interesting to British audiences!”