Yael Bat-Shimon

Yael Bat-Shimon has performed with Odaiko New England in "A Taiko Journey" at Springstep in November 2008, in our 15th Anniversary Concert: reVISION in May 2009, and in Pangaea: the University of Rhode Island's Roots Music Series in October 2009.

Yael Bat-Shimon studied violin solo performance in Paris with Mme Miriam Solovieff. She received her BA from Harvard in Literature, specializing in French Feminisms. Yael pursued graduate study in violin performance and contemporary improvisation at the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore and at the New England Conservatory in Boston. She also holds an MA in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College.

For several years Yael has been creating and performing music for choreographers of modern dance as well as exploring improvisation both with musicians from non-Western traditions and with performers from different artistic media. In 2005, she founded the interdisciplinary improvisational performance group "Inter Alia." Most recently, Yael has been performing concerts of solo improvisational pieces with the occasional very wonderful guest artist.

Her music is featured in the Fall 2008 edition of the arts and culture e-zine "Zingology" as well as on "Free Albums Galore." An on-line album of live improvisations is available courtesy of ARTSomerville for free download on Jamendo. Yael's first CD is due to appear in August 2009.

Reviews

"It's hard to classify this adventurous contemporary violinist's style. She draws from her classical training as well as non-Western musical traditions for ruminative freestyle tunes with a thoughtful perspective." - Karen Campbell, "The Boston Globe"

"The online album titled Improvisations 05.04.08...is an exquisite 32 minutes of solo violin. Much of Bat-Shimon’s improvising is based on Jewish traditional music so there is a slightly folksy and very lyrical quality to her music. This is an album you will want to hear over and over to catch all the subtleties." - Marvin Vernon, "Free Albums Galore"

"I am very fortunate this time to present to you the violin improvisations of Yael Bat-Shimon, with fiery interpretations of European and American folk traditions squarely anchored on her classical training. Just as Kandinsky attributed the creation of his abstract Compositions to hearing musical tones and chords, Yael reverses the process, with 'Hommage to Kandinsky', by creating tonal layers and spiritual resonance with her strings, which evoke the structure of linear and geometric abstract patterns."- Ricardo Fernandez, "Zingology".