North Indian classical music and folklore meet Scandinavian jazz, electronica, and folk tunes as ALICE presents a grand collaboration between two virtuosos from their respective traditions. Get ready for May, when the Indian spiritual sitarist Arjun Verma and one of Denmark’s leading jazz pianists, Nikolaj Hess, take the stage.

North Indian classical music and folklore meet Scandinavian jazz, electronic music, and folk tunes as ALICE presents a grand collaboration between the Indian sitar virtuoso Arjun Verma and Nikolaj Hess on keyboards, electronics, and piano. The music sounds like nothing else but carries recognizable sounds and patterns from especially the North Indian sitar tradition, Scandinavian jazz, and lyrical improvisation. The dynamics are marked by alternating lingering, calm passages and high-energy trance grooves as the two musicians unfold their improvisational skills. The music is thus created from a blend of melodic sketches and spontaneous improvisation, and – not least – Arjun Verma’s spiritual purpose in communicating with the audience, which beautifully complements Nikolaj Hess’s deep ‘golden touch’ approach.

Nikolaj Hess
Nikolaj Hess is a DK/New York-based award-winning and internationally recognized pianist, keyboardist, and composer. Over time, Hess has been praised for his golden touch on the piano as well as his unique creativity and warm Nordic cool lyricism mixed with a trance-inducing sense of rhythm and groove. He has composed for orchestra, including a recently released classical violin concerto, and has created film music for works by, among others, Lars von Trier. Nikolaj Hess has performed at numerous venues and festivals worldwide, including The MoMA, The Met, The Getty, Jazz at Lincoln, Blue Note, New York Winter Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn, North Sea, and many others.

Arjun Verma
Arjun Verma picked up the sitar at the age of 5 with his father as his teacher, and as a teenager, he studied directly under the world-renowned sitarist Ali Akbar Khan for eight years. Since then, he has continued as both a concert musician and a teacher, teaching at institutions such as the Ali Akbar College of Music, California Jazz Conservatory, and leading the sitar line at East-West School of Music. Arjun Verma works, like his two teacher-masters, from a spiritual and personal understanding of North Indian classical music, where the impact of sound vibrations on the audience and the music’s immersive effect are central. Verma delivers this quality whether he plays for a small dedicated group or a large audience, as he did for the UN in Geneva for their 50th anniversary. Or when he brings the sitar into Western music forms like opera and jazz or collaborates with Bob Weir from Grateful Dead. Among the many artists he works with are Krishna Das and Alam Khan.

ALICE at Stairway
While the concert hall at Nørre Allé 7 is undergoing renovation, ALICE is located at the music venue Stairway in Vanløse.