description
born may 2nd, 1976 in salzburg (austria)
as 5-year-old girl sabina attended the mozarteum high school in salzburg where she got classical piano lessons for 13 years
first studio recordings at the age of 6 ("philipp the mouse" by walter mueller)
jazzvocals- and -piano-studies @ the bruckner university linz (A)
from 1994 till 1999, studies broken off
since 2003 SLS-training (speech leven singing) with joy green in munich
since 1997 working as a freelanced musician only
awards
first price of the composition scholarship of salzburg (austria) 1998
"art & music"-award of salzburg 2004
"best jazz artist national 2004" (austrian CONCERTO poll 2004)
activities
as band- & co-leader:
"twilight songs"
"since we met"
"re-generation"
worked with:
bob mintzer, maria schneider, werner pirchner, andy baum, garry dial, dick oatts, beni schmid, jimmy carl black & albie donelly
composition commissions
2007 composition commission in order from benjamin schmid & the mattseer diabelli summer (A) for a 15-minutes violinconcerto for string chamber orchestra & solo violin (first showing in 2008)
2006 composition commission from the IG composers for the opening of "musikum salzburg" 2007
2002 composition commission from ORF/3sat for the documentary “ausgangspunkt österreich” (director koschka hetzer)
2002 composition commission from the opera house/theatre salzburg (A) for „nachtmusik“ (hochhuth, director michael worsch)
2001 composition commission from volkstheater vienna (A) for „talisman“ (director michael schottenberg, nestroy award 2002 & karl-skraup-award 2002)
2001 composition commission from brucknerhaus linz (A) („regeneration“), first showing in nov. 2003
1998 composition commission from schauspielhaus bochum (germany) for „carmen“ (director leander haußmann)
festivals & concert places
midem cannes (france) 2007
jazzfestival warschau & kalisz (poland) 2005
jazzfestival izmir & ankara (turkey) 2004
musikverein & konzerthaus wien 2004 & 2005
jazzfestival mexico city & san luis potosi 2003
jazzfestival copenhagen (denmark) 2003
jazzfestival rabat (marokko) 2003
novi sad jazzfestival (serbia) 2003
washington d.c. & new york 2003
jazzherbst salzburg 2003-2006
european jazzfestival athens (greece) 2002
sibiu jazzfestival (rumania) 2002 & 2004
amsterdam & brussels 2002
european vocal summit festival prag & bratislava 2000
la vilette jazzfestival paris 1997
etc.
reviews (excerpt):
“new cd from sabina hank frantically acclaimed in “oval”: that she has an unbelievable feeling for setting german lyrics to music sabina hank proved with willi resetarits and the “abendlieder.“ with “inside,“ the multi-talent has kicked open new doors. with very personal songs that touch anyone’s heart that was ever (unhappily) in love.
sabina hank sings about love. genuine love. and that as everyone knows is not sugary sweet and picky, but rather tenderly bitter. despite heavy thoughts, the music floats easily above the lyrics, fragile moments align themselves alongside the wildly pulsating. precisely as in love. to think about which shelf the album belongs on is wasted energy. it would be better to open up the way for a walk through your own heart.“
(kronenzeitung (A), 2007)
“the charm of vulnerability“
“the aphorism that good songs are like tattoos because they get you under the skin stems from joni mitchell. the austrian songwriter sabina hank proves with her newest cd that she also has something to say on this subject. the title alone, “inside,“ lets you surmise that sabina hank is not just a chanteuse who would like to bring nice music to people. no, for her it’s a matter of touching her fellow-man while making herself touchable, vulnerable. that the salzburg musician does with disarming honesty and seriousness, whereby she succeeds in giving her songs a dimension of universal validity inspite of all their intimacy. sabina hank’s newest album is romantic and uncompromising --- a further recording moment in the career of an artist who knows more precisely from year to year what she wants and can do.“
(concerto (A), 2007)
“something’s happening in schnitzel country: austrian lady-musicians on the march“
“the country has to be aware now of that lady who cultivates native diction and makes music magnificently. not artificial, quick hit-trimmed fast-food, but rather introverted songwriting. these are flowers from another world that show up, a world that allows growth in its positive slowness. home hype snubbed, fertilized with perseverance and correspondingly powerfully grown up. (...)
sabina hank - pianist, singer, composer and author.
so far, her career has taken her to numerous jazz festivals around the globe, she has written songs for films and the theater and has also had the joy of working with mr. kurt ostbahn.
“inside“ is the name of her current cd (universal) that one actually has to research. the lady sings here and now german. this is new and very exciting. her english lyrics are not simply germanized, rather the german made approachable. the salzburger josh vanderberg, among others, helped her. hank and vanderberg found themselves together again on about half of the songs on the cd. with the others, under the titles in the booklet it says “hank/hank.“ (...)
the tenderness and the depth of the songs as well as ms. hank’s voice grab anyone, gender overlapping, who dares to open a tiny door to their emotions.“
(musikmarkt (D), 2007)
more reviews you will find under PRESS!
ganz privat
katie & hanky @ STING concert in alberschwende (A), summer 2006
sign: taurus, ascendant capricorn
colour: deep orange & black
relationship: married (to www.herbberger.com)
movies: "down by law" (jim jarmusch), "some like it hot" (billy wilder), "the fabolous baker boys", "verhängnis" (louis malle), "american beauty" (sam mendes)
books: "the time traveller´s wife" (audrey niffenegger), "love life" (zeruya shalev), "the time of our singing" (richard powers), "the fourth hand" & "the world according to garp" (john irving), "without blood" & "oceano mare" (alessandro baricco), "shadow of the wind" (carlos ruiz zafon), "when nietzsche wept" (irvin yalom), "the swarm" (frank schätzing), "effortless mastery" (kenny werrner) & "the artist´s way" (julia cameron)
cds: "here´s to life" (shirley horn), "kind of blue" (miles davis), "the nightfly" & "morph the cat" (donald fagen), "everything must go", "two against nature" & "gaucho" (steely dan), "abandoned garden" (michael franks), "evanescence" (maria schneider), "october road" (james taylor), "gettin´down with" (johnny guitar watson), "don´t smoke in bed" (holly cole)
song: "fragile" (sting) & "don´t let me be lonely tonight" (james taylor),"mensch" (herbert grönemeyer), "kokain" (boris bukowski)
singers: lyle lovett, sting, stevie wonder, james taylor, herbert grönemeyer, raul midon, michael franks, diane reeves, joni mitchell, norah jones, michael buble
pianists: brad mehldau, don grolnick, russel ferrante, esbjörn svensson, bill evans, herbie hancock, chick corea, jason moran
band: steely dan
composers: mozart, bach, strawinsky, astor piazolla, ivan lins, michel legrand
actors/actresses: juliette binoche, emanuelle beart, meryl streep, ralph fiennes, kevin spacey, anthony hopkins, jeff bridges
directors: jim jarmusch, david lynch, billy wilder
voice: christian brückner
what i love: reading, cooking, swimming, jogging, sailing, theatre, audio books, silence, my cats and having a good proper sleep :-)
miscellaneous: from birth i am a synaesthesiast (coloured hearing & precognitive dreaming) further infos @ www.synaesthesieforum.de
(here and now: a warm hello to all synnies :-))