“Fay Claassen is to singing what Audrey Hepburn was to the movies: elegant and graceful”.
(US-Music magazine ‘CADENCE’)
It seems the most natural thing in the world, when Fay Claassen brings English and Dutch pop songs, original compositions or standards of the “Great American Songbook” with her touching voice to new life.
When phenomenal improvisation and perfect intonation seem to be a child’s play, combined with enormous emotional depth and more than twenty years of musical experience.
Fay Claassen began with a ballet and theater training at early age, then switched to the musical subject and presented an impressive career.
With her unmistakable timbre, she is one of the great female voices of European jazz.
Highlights
In September 2018 Fay Claassen’s new solo album “Dutch Songbook” will be released, recorded with the WDR Big Band. Highlight is the “Dutch Songbook” concert tour within the Netherlands, together with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. Especially looking forward to the premiere in the prestigious Main Hall of the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Furthermore Fay will give several Christmas concerts in Germany together with the HR Bigband.
Awards
Fay Claassen’s ninth solo album “Luck Child” was awarded with the Dutch Grammy, the “Edison Award” in 2018. Moreover she received for this album the “Edison 2018 Audience Award”. She has previously received the prestigious German “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, a “Goldern Record Award” and the “Chet Baker Award”. These are just a few examples of the many prizes that Fay Claassen has received so far in her impressive career.
Collaborations
The list of jazz legends with whom Fay Claasen has collaborated since the 1990s reads like the’ Who’s Who’ of jazz: the legendary Toots Thielemans, the Grammy winning WDR Big Band, the American Fusion Jazz Star Mike Stern, Cuban Latin Jazz Star Paquito D’Rivera, the Dutch Metropole Orchestra and the most important arrangers of the orchestral Jazz: Bob Brookmeyer, Vince Mendoza and Michael Abene.
From the Edison Jury Report 2018:
“It is hard not to lose yourself in many superlatives when you hear Fay Claassen. She has the special gift not only to touch the listener, but rather to meet him directly in the heart.”
2018/2019