Júlia Karosi has been known on the Hungarian jazz scene as a defining figure in the genre for years now. This is despite the fact that her jazz career only took a serious turn after she had completed two Masters Degrees in liberal arts. In 2009, she founded the Júlia Karosi Quartet, whose repertoire consists mostly of her original compositions, a blend of classical music and modern jazz. Her latest album Bidin' My Time, due to be released in September 2018, is a compilation of George Gersh...win classics scored by Márton Fenyvesi and featuring the RTQ String Quartet.
Júlia Karosi's 2014 album Hidden Roots, released in New York, delves deeply into the relationship between her musical roots and jazz. This exploration produced original compositions and Hungarian folk song arrangements which received critical acclaim both at home and abroad. Motivated by this success, Karosi continued her research into the deeply rooted culture of Hungarian music, where she found renewed inspiration at the source: the works of Bartók and Kodály. Since 2018, she has worked on vocal arrangements of Bartók and Kodály works on a scholarship from the Hungarian Academy of Arts, a selection of which will be heard here.
The final concert of the Jazz Showcase will also feature one of New York's most sought-after guitarists, Ben Monder. His original compositions, transcendental playing and unmistakeable sound pair perfectly with the Júlia Karosi Quartet's style.