AKI TAKASE & FABIANA STRIFFLER

“And suddenly, time bends… I enjoy the sugar cube on my tongue, which unfortunately melts away far too quickly. What a pity that it’s already gone. At that moment, thick honey drips into my mouth.”
In their duo Capriccio, pianist Aki Takase and violinist Fabiana Striffler allow opposites to merge: bizarre and delicate, edgy and sugar-sweet. They combine playful freedom with radical clarity and precision.
Two voices that ignite each other like sparks, whirl in circles, tear down walls, giggle, circle each other, get caught up, stumble, fall, let go, become gentle, float, and shine like stars.

“…But the most touching moment of the festival came during its very first concert, the duet between 77-year-old pianist Aki Takase and 37-year-old violinist Fabiana Striffler. It made you wonder how Striffler could have inherited the DNA of Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty at the same time, and whether Takase had ever sounded so delicate, gentle, even empathetic. And Aki Takase was audibly surprised at herself: “I’ve played with men my whole life. I always thought that’s how it had to be, that there was no other way. And now I’m playing with a woman, with Fabiana, with this young generation whose grandmother I could be. And it’s wonderful.” Jazzthetik, Thomas Melzer about Jazz in E. 2025

Photos by Dirk Bleicker