Award Singer and composer Elina Duni receives Swiss Jazz Award 2025
Albanian-born Elina Duni will be honored with the Swiss Jazz Award at this year's Festival Jazz Ascona. On June 28, the artist will give a concert in Ascona before accepting the award.
29.04.2025, 10:50
SDA
Duni is under contract with the renowned record label ECM and already received the Swiss Music Prize in 2017. She is being honored for her ability to "create a poetic and emotional musical language that sensitively combines jazz and the traditional music of her homeland", the organizers wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
Duni was born into a family of artists in Albania's capital Tirana in 1981. She was already performing for Albanian radio and television at the age of five. After the fall of the communist regime, she moved to Geneva with her mother. There she studied classical piano before turning to jazz. This was followed by studies at the Bern University of the Arts. Duni concentrated on composition and improvisation.
Together with pianist Colin Vallon, double bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Norbert Pfammatter, she founded the Elina Duni Quartet, which combines jazz with the evocative sounds of Balkan folklore. She has released albums such as "Matanë Malit" (2012) and "Dallëndyshe" (2015) on ECM. She recorded "Partir" in 2018 after starting to collaborate with guitarist Rob Luft the year before. This was followed by "Lost Ships" (2020) and "A Time To Remember" (2023), both with Rob Luft and flugelhorn player Matthieu Michel.
The Swiss Jazz Award has been presented since 2007. Previous winners include the Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Christoph Grab and Othella Dallas. The Jazz Ascona Festival takes place this year from July 25 to 5.
