Emile Parisien & Yaron Herman – 'Floating' – Alhambra

Emile Parisien & Yaron Herman – FLOATING at L'Alhambra Geneva: A Night of Luminous Jazz

There are concerts you attend. And then there are concerts that stay with you for years, that redefine what you thought jazz could be in an intimate live setting. On Thursday, April 30, 2026, the saxophone genius Émile Parisien brings his extraordinary new project FLOATING to L'Alhambra in Geneva at 8:00 PM, alongside pianist Yaron Herman, tabla player Prabhu Edouard, and bassist Florent Nisse.

The date is not accidental. April 30 is International Jazz Day, and this Geneva concert — organised by JazzContreBand to celebrate its own 30th anniversary — is one of the most beautifully chosen ways imaginable to mark both occasions at once. Tickets are priced from 42 to 48 CHF/EUR and are available now through starticket.ch.

What Is FLOATING? The Project Born from a Parisian Residency

FLOATING was born in 2025 at the Théâtre de la Cité internationale in Paris, during a residency that Émile Parisien used to pursue something he had been thinking about for years: new combinations of musical aromas, to use his own language, that would push beyond the boundaries of his celebrated quartet work.

The concept is, at its core, about alchemical meetings between exceptional musicians from different musical worlds. Parisien describes it as an "open invitation to emerging figures on the US jazz scene" — a project that sets the stage "alight on both sides of the Atlantic" and transitions from epic, lyrical performance into "electro-accentuated jazz."

For the Geneva date, the FLOATING lineup features four musicians of extraordinary calibre:

• Émile Parisien — soprano saxophone
• Yaron Herman — piano
• Prabhu Edouard — tablas and percussion
• Florent Nisse — double bass

The chemistry between these four musicians is not manufactured for a tour. It has been developed through residency, rehearsal, and live performance across Europe — including a sold-out performance at the Philharmonie de Berlin's Kammermusiksaal in March 2026 and a Paris concert at La Seine Musicale in the same month. By the time the quartet reaches Geneva on April 30, they will be fully road-tested and at their most cohesive.

Who Is Émile Parisien? Three Victoires du Jazz and a Sound Like No Other

Émile Parisien is, by the consensus of the French and European jazz press, the most distinctive and original soprano saxophonist of his generation. Born in 1982 in Cahors, he studied jazz at the Conservatoire de Toulouse and the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, where his technical fluency and tonal imagination quickly set him apart from his peers.

His discography is one of the most consistently adventurous in contemporary European jazz. He has won three Victoires du Jazz — France's most prestigious jazz awards — including Best Album of the Year for Sfumato in 2017. His collaborations have spanned jazz, electronic music, and avant-garde performance. His regular quartet work has taken him to the world's most important jazz stages.

But what makes Parisien genuinely special is harder to put into numbers. His soprano saxophone playing has a keening, luminous quality — simultaneously ancient-sounding and completely modern — that places him in conversation with the great soprano players (Sidney Bechet, John Coltrane, Steve Lacy) without sounding remotely derivative of any of them. He plays with an urgency and a personal voice that is immediately recognisable within a few bars.

The FLOATING project represents a new phase of his work: more open, more collaborative across continents and genres, more willing to let the music breathe and surprise even its creators.

Who Is Yaron Herman? A Pianist Who Belongs to Every Genre

Yaron Herman was born in Israel and has spent most of his adult life in Paris, where he has become one of the most respected and genuinely unusual figures in European jazz. He received a Victoire du Jazz in 2007 and has built a career that consistently refuses to stay within a single genre's walls.

His musical reference points say everything: he claims the inheritance of Keith Jarrett just as readily as he claims Björk or Radiohead. He is "a grand improviser on the international scene, recognized as one of the pioneers who mixed jazz with rock and electro." His work with the classical and contemporary music worlds adds yet another dimension to an already multifaceted musical identity.

Herman is also the author of the book "Le Déclic créatif" (Fayard, 2020) — a book about creativity that reflects his broader engagement with ideas beyond music. He is, in short, not just a brilliant jazz pianist but a genuinely interesting thinker about what music is and what it can do.

The pairing of Parisien and Herman in FLOATING is described by JazzContreBand as a natural "alchimie" — two musicians who both carry the French jazz tradition but who both push beyond it in complementary directions.

Prabhu Edouard and Florent Nisse: The Rhythmic Foundation

The Geneva lineup also brings two musicians who are indispensable to what FLOATING is rhythmically and harmonically.

Prabhu Edouard is a tabla player of extraordinary versatility. A disciple of the legendary Shankar Ghosh, he has accompanied the great names in Indian music while also working extensively in jazz and contemporary contexts, earning the musical trust of artists including Jordi Savall, Jeff Mills, and Magic Malik. His tabla playing brings a rhythmic complexity and a tonal warmth to the FLOATING sound that no drum kit could replicate. The interlocking between his work and what Parisien plays above it is one of the project's most distinctive sonic pleasures.

Florent Nisse takes the bass chair for the Geneva performance, grounding the quartet and providing the harmonic foundation that allows Parisien and Herman the freedom to range across whatever musical territory the moment suggests.

The Opening Act: Manon Mullener – Solo

Before FLOATING takes the stage, Geneva's own Manon Mullener opens the evening with a solo set. A musician who moves between jazz, French chanson, and Cuban rhythms, Mullener creates what the JazzContreBand programme describes as "an intimate, borderless musical journey." Her solo opening is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the evening — an invitation to arrive, settle, and begin listening properly before the quartet takes over.

JazzContreBand at 30: The Organisation Behind This Extraordinary Evening

This concert is organised by JazzContreBand, one of the most important jazz promotion organisations in the Geneva region and a key figure in bringing world-class jazz to Switzerland for three decades. The April 30 event serves double duty: it is both an International Jazz Day celebration and the official announcement of the first names for JazzContreBand's major 30th anniversary festival season later in 2026.

Attending this concert means being present for a moment of genuine institutional history in Geneva's jazz life. The first artists announced for a 30th anniversary season will be unveiled during this evening — and given JazzContreBand's three decades of programming excellence, that announcement alone is worth arriving early for.

L'Alhambra: Geneva's Most Beloved Concert Hall for This Kind of Music

The choice of L'Alhambra is perfect for FLOATING. The venue at Rue de la Rôtisserie 10 in Geneva's Old Town is one of the finest concert spaces in Switzerland for serious music of this kind — intimate enough that the audience is genuinely close to the musicians, but well-equipped enough that the sound quality and production meet the demands of a serious international jazz presentation.

The Alhambra sits in the heart of the Vieille-Ville (Old Town) — Geneva's historic hilltop quarter above Lac Léman. The surrounding area is beautiful in late April and early May, making the evening a natural extension of a day in the city.

Geneva on International Jazz Day: A City Made for This Evening

Arriving in Geneva on April 30 for International Jazz Day gives you a full day in one of Europe's most beautiful cities before the 8:00 PM concert start.

Spending the Day in Geneva Before the Concert

• Jet d'Eau on Lac Léman: Geneva's most iconic landmark — a 140-metre water jet on the lake — is at its best in late April when the mountains behind it still carry snow. The 20-minute lakefront walk from the Pont du Mont-Blanc toward the Old Town is one of the great urban promenades in Europe.
• The Old Town (Vieille-Ville): The quarter immediately surrounding the Alhambra is Geneva's medieval heart. Saint-Pierre Cathedral, the cobbled Grand-Rue, and the medieval towers of the city walls are all within a few minutes' walk of the concert venue.
• Place du Bourg-de-Four: The oldest square in Geneva, just behind the cathedral, is surrounded by excellent cafe terraces and independent restaurants. A pre-concert dinner here — perhaps a fondue, a raclette, or a carefully made Geneva fish dish using lake perch (perche du lac) — is the ideal preparation for a long evening of beautiful music.
• Parc des Bastions: The park directly beside the Old Town is home to the famous Reformation Wall — a 100-metre long monument to the founders of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva. Calm and beautifully kept in spring.
• Carouge: For a slightly different atmosphere, tram line 12 takes you to the Carouge neighbourhood in about 15 minutes — Geneva's Sardinian-founded bohemian quarter, full of independent galleries, wine bars, and restaurants that feel more village than city.

Getting to Geneva and L'Alhambra

• By TGV from Paris: approximately 3 hours
• By train from Zurich: approximately 2.5 hours
• By train from Bern: approximately 1.75 hours
• By air: Geneva Airport (GVA) is extremely well connected with direct flights from across Europe

From Geneva Central Station (Cornavin), the Alhambra is a 15–20 minute walk through the Old Town, or a 5-minute tram ride on line 12 or 16.

A Night That Belongs to Those Who Love Real Music

International Jazz Day at L'Alhambra on April 30, 2026 is a genuinely rare alignment: the right project, the right musicians, the right organisation, the right venue, and the right city, all meeting on a night that the global jazz community marks as its own.

FLOATING with Émile Parisien, Yaron Herman, Prabhu Edouard, and Florent Nisse is the kind of concert that rewards those who show up fully present and ready to let music take them somewhere unexpected. That is, after all, what jazz has always promised. Geneva, on April 30, is where that promise is being kept.

Tickets at 42 to 48 CHF/EUR are available at starticket.ch and through JazzContreBand. Opening act: Manon Mullener, solo. Doors at 7:00 PM; concert begins at 8:00 PM.

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