Photo by Bellocchio Fotografie
Danielle Friedman is an Israeli pianist, composer, and improviser currently based in Berlin.
Musically and geographically she crosses and transcends borders, bringing together different influences. Her music flows between Jazz, Classical, and lyrical as well as rhythmic free improvisation, riddled with imagination.
Friedman has been living and performing across Europe, New York, and Israel. Her projects and bands include the Danielle Friedman Trio, D&DF&P, YSOP, Zahir, and Invisible Architects.
Born in 1991 in Israel, Friedman started playing the piano at the age of 6 and was exposed to both classical and popular music. After studying at the Israeli Conservatory in Tel Aviv (Center for Jazz Studies), receiving a full scholarship led her to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors in 2016.
Some of the musicians and educators who had the biggest impact on Danielle's development as a musician include Anat Fort, Rea Barness, Yuval Cohen, Steve Cardenas, Benita Meshulam, and Cecil Bridgewater.
Danielle’s debut album "School of Fish” was recorded with her New York Trio in Brooklyn in 2017, with Aron Caceres on bass, and David Jimenez on drums. The album was released alongside a European tour in 2018 and received excellent reviews from acclaimed magazines.
With dancer and choreographer Doron Perk, she formed D&DF&P - a free-form duet using music and dance as languages. The duo debuted in New York in 2017, and has since taken their performance to International stages, including the Edinburgh and Camden Fringe Festivals.
Inclined to explore a new musical context, she moved to Berlin in 2018, where she has been collaborating on many projects;
She formed Invisible Architects with guitarist Nishad Pandey, a duo that delves deep into musical storytelling. Together they performed around Berlin’s free Improvisation Hot Spots and released a fully improvised album “Live at Cat House” in 2022.
During the pandemic, she founded Zahir with musicians Lisa Hoppe and Lucia Boffo. Embracing their multiple belongings and interconnections with each other, they developed tenderly improvised, bold, and humorous original music, rooted in jazz and spinning freely wherever their associations would take them.
Shortly after, Friedman joined freshly formed Lisa Hoppe’s YSOP - an international band of musicians from Switzerland, France, Germany, and Israel. The unorthodox line-up (for jazz at least), consisting of vocals, violin, trombone, piano, and upright bass, melts together acoustic and electrified sounds and creates an unusual statement of chamber music. Together they won the Transnational Jazz competition in 2021 and have since toured and recorded their debut album.
Friedman is performing in various venues and festivals in Europe, including Berlin Jazz Woche, Bejazz transnational jazz festival, Donau115, and Jazzkeller69, To name a few, with her projects and bands.
'Weary Gold', a solo piano album released in 2023, is Friedman's sophomore album, following her critically acclaimed debut trio album - "School of Fish."
Photo by Bellocchio Fotografie
“...she sounds like a force of nature with ideas flowing as if they are compelled to surge from her mind’s mind through to the nerve endings of her fingers. But there is something more: Miss Friedman’s music is born of a wellspring of great sensitivity.”