No longer accepting applications. Others welcome to stop by and enjoy the music. 

Grab your instruments and come to Hayy Jameel for a guided jam session at Saha, our community courtyard, led by the Alexandra Ivanova Trio and Special Guest Lynn Adib! Together, we will explore each others’ music and create a playground for improvising on our favorite standards from jazz to Umm Kulthoum.

About the Facilitators

Alexandra Ivanova Trio

Led by the Austrian pianist and composer Alexandra Ivanova, with Niklas Lukassen on double bass and Nathan Ott on drums, the trio navigates between Jazz, Oriental and Afro-Cuban music. Alexandra’s compositions stem from a deep journey into the self which is reflected in the heightened emotionality of her playing. Her arrangements of Oriental standards, Azeri and Icelandic folklore invite the listener to look at the world from different points of view: from the East, the West or from somewhere in between. In 2021 the trio recorded their debut album “Beauty in Chaos” featuring a collaboration with Paris-based Syrian singer Lynn Adib – to be released this year.

Alexandra Ivanova

Alexandra is a pluricultural pianist and composer, born in Austria with Bulgarian roots, and having called France, the Middle East and the Gulf her home. She was classically trained at the piano as a child and is primarily self-taught in jazz, performing with her jazz trios since the age of 16, before she found a mentor in autodidact Tarek Yamani at a later stage. Alexandra’s interest lies in polyrhythms, Bulgarian and Maqam-based music in conversation with jazz harmony and Afrocuban claves.
She has performed in the UAE, Austria, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Iceland, most notably at Reykjavik Jazz Festival 2020. Alexandra has earned scholarships from the Berlin Senate 2022 and the German Music Fund 2021 for her composition work and research.

Niklas Lukassen

Bassist, composer and singer Niklas Lukassen lives in New York and Berlin and is a rising force in the international jazz scene with a special artistic signature. He holds a Masters’ degree from the Manhattan School of Music with a full scholarship under mentorship of Ron Carter. Niklas has collaborated with artists like Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, Oz Noy and Sean Wayland, and has toured Malaysia, China, England, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and the USA. He has received generous endorsements, such as the dedication of a “Niklas Lukassen Signature Bass Guitar Model” from “Merlos” (Spain, 2016).

Nathan Ott

The young bandleader and drummer Nathan Ott was hailed by jazz experts since he released his debut album in 2016 with his quartet featuring Dave Liebman. He took the spirit of the Elvin-Jones Band’s legendary Lighthouse-Edition from the 70s into the 21st century and showed how fruitful such a transgenerational intercontinental encounter in jazz can be. In his young career, Nathan Ott has collaborated with artists like Richie Beirach, Tobias Delius and Jonas Westergaard. He has studied with Bill Elgart and Holger Nell in Germany, as well as with Adam Nussbaum, Greg Hutchinson and Billy Hart in the USA, before he moved to Berlin in 2019 where he currently lives and works.

Lynn Adib (Special guest)

Born and raised in Damascus, Syria. Lynn Adib is a singer, composer who has been exploring Arabic music and improvisation through Jazz music that she discovered around the age of 19 after spending years in the Choir of Joy and learning classical flute at the National Conservatory, both in her hometown.

After moving to Paris in 2009 and since the release of her Debut Album « Youmma » in 2018, Lynn has been collaborating with artists from all around the world giving birth to several projects such as « Bedouin Burger », « Yalla Queen », and preparing to release a duo album with French musician Marc Buronfosse.

Lynn has a degree in Jazz studies from Paris Conservatory and Pharmacy degree with masters in medical biology, she lives in Paris, France.