Biography

Elena Mîndru’s first symphonic jazz album Hybrid consists of her original compositions, carols as well as Romanian and Finnish songs. 

A mixture of nostalgia, of Romanian traditions, of poetry reflecting a Nordic landscape, of vulnerability, family, the reflection of Elena Mîndru's childhood values in a completely different space – all of these have found their expression in her first symphonic jazz album featuring her quartet and the Moldovan National Youth Orchestra.

The international music journalist specializing in jazz, Henning Bolte said, “Hybrid can be considered a statement of one of the highly profiled Romanian jazz musicians working abroad. Romanian and Finnish temperaments are productively united in this project forming an extraordinary Eastern alliance of high significance for Europe.”



Elena Mîndru is one of the most accomplished and awarded voices among the Romanian young jazz musicians. The artist, who has won numerous awards at jazz festivals across Europe, and has released five albums so far (Romanian Christmas Stories in 2012, Evening in Romania in 2014, Quartphonic in 2016, Folkloric Moods in 2019 and Hope in 2021), comes back with a musical story that celebrates her hybrid life as a Romanian artist living in Finland. 



Hybrid is the result of a project carried out during the pandemic with theMoldovan National Youth Orchestra, a project entailing a hybrid, online-offline concert published in four parts as part of Symphonic Meets Jazz. Notably, Symphonic Meets Jazz is the first symphonic jazz project in Romania with solo voice and a jazz trio, a project initiated in 2014 by Elena Mîndru in collaboration with various philharmonic orchestras. The concerts that are part of this project proposes interweave hybridlike jazz with classical music, by taking on an orchestral programme. 

As a hybrid concert, the vocalist Elena Mîndru and the Finnish quartet were “live” only in form of a video projection, while the only ones present live on the stage were the orchestra members and the conductor. Due to the high standards of professionalism of the audio and video editing team, the synchronising of the two was flawless. This hybrid version of a concert was a premier in the European jazz scene and it may be a landmark for future approaches within the performance arts.  

Hybrid creates the perfect atmosphere for the 2022/2023 winter for those who would like an alternative either to the customary Christmas carols, or to the music of a winter night.

Tracklist

1. LUCAsäv. & san. Tuomas J. Turunen, sov. Sampo Kasurinen
2. ASEARĂ PE-NSERATE  & LEGĂNELUL LUI IISUSsäv. & san. trad. & Valentin Teodorian, sov. Andrei Tudor
3. SYMMETRYsäv. & san. Elena Mîndru, sov. Sampo Kasurinen 
4. ALICEsäv. Sampo Kasurinen, san. Ulriikka Heikinheimo
5. BETWEEN A SMILE AND A TEARsäv. & sov. Tuomas J. Turunen, san. Elena Mîndru
6. 100 ROMANIAsäv. & san. trad., sov. Sampo Kasurinen
7. MAA ON NIIN KAUNISsäv. & san. trad., san. Bernhard Severin Ingemann / Hilja Haahti, sov. Sampo Kasurinen & Seppo Kantonen
8. SWANsäv. & sov. Tuomas J. Turunen, san.Elena Mîndru
9. O, CE VESTE MINUNATĂsäv. & san. trad., sov. Andrei Tudor