Tu BiShvat Performance

About Noa Fort

Israeli-born vocalist, pianist, composer, and music therapist Noa Fort is blurring the lines between written and composed, group and individual, inner and outer soundscape, giving and receiving; all on the path to healing, with music.

After a short stint as a biologist (she received her Bacherlors in Biology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel), researching bird migration in the Israeli desert, Fort decided to go back to her first love, music and pursued a degree in Music Performance (first for voice, then for piano) at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She became involved in the music scene in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, leading a Jazz quintet as well as working as a side woman for several bands and projects. She also started volunteering with teenagers with special needs, and slowly realized what she’d always known - that music can be used for more than self-expression; it can be used to create a connection where words fail, a path to healing, and a terrain to explore the self in relation to others.

In 2013, Fort moved to NYC, to pursue both her performance career and to become a music therapist. She enrolled for a Master’s degree in Music Therapy at NYU, and interned at the Kings County Mental Health Units, using songwriting, improvisation, and singing as her main tools. While at school, Fort formed a trio, which later became the Noa Fort Quartet. The group developed a unique, cohesive, exploratory, and fresh sound, playing frequently at noted venues Cornelia Street Cafe and Rockwood Music Hall. Aside from her work as a leader, Fort started collaborating and performing with greats such as William Parker, Hamid Drake, Ken Filiano, Francisco Mela, Michael Attias, Satoshi Takeishi, Mary Prescott, David Torn, and Simon Jermyn, among others.

In 2018 Fort released her debut album as a bandleader and composer, ‘No World Between Us’. Critically acclaimed, its release led to bookings at the DC Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. All About Jazz called it “an album of comforting originality on all fronts… lyrics brimming with timeless themes”.

‘Everyday Actions’, her second album as a leader and composer, came out with the Argentinian- American avant-garde label ‘Ears & Eyes records’ in July 2021. It has been receiving stirring reviews from around the world. 

"Fort’s healing vocal abstractions transcend verbalization...Frequently poignant and meditative, the music’s spare beauty sneaks up on you then stays with you" -Jazziz Magazine

About JP Schlegelmilch  

JP Schlegelmilch is a pianist and composer originally from New Hampshire now living in Brooklyn. His musical interests span the history of jazz piano as well as classical and rock. Since arriving in Brooklyn he has performed and recorded with a wide range of musicians in the jazz and experimental music world. His 2019 album “Visitors” with drummer Jim Black and guitarist Jonathan Goldberger was widely acclaimed and mentioned on Rolling Stone’s “Best Jazz Albums of 2019”.