Sun Mi Hong, Elina Duni & Rob Luft

Sligo Jazz Project’s Young Artist in Residence 2026: Sun Mi Hong Plus Elina Duni & Rob Luft.

Sun-Mi Hong - drums
Aaron Parks - piano
Lucia Cadotsch – voice
Jasper Høiby – double bass

Sun-Mi Hong, an acclaimed South Korean drummer based in Amsterdam, is a rising star known for her boundless creativity and infectious energy. Winner of prestigious awards including the Edison Award and the SENA Dutch Jazz Competition, Sun-Mi's music blends rooted grooves with exhilarating outbursts. Sun will appear with guests Aaron Parks, Jasper Hoiby and Lucia Cadotsch.

Rob Luft - guitar
Elina Duni - voice

“Few contemporary jazz-influenced singers manage to sound so intensely like themselves while drawing on such a variety of genres, languages, and cultural backstories as the Albania-born vocalist Elina Duni,” The Guardian has noted, and Reaching for the Moon once again casts a wide net. It’s Duni’s third recording with UK guitarist Rob Luft, and where Lost Ships and A Time To Remember featured their co-led quartet, the core duo come to the fore here, in a programme that begins with Irving Berlin’s title song and ends with Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”. Along the way, we hear Duni and Luft originals, traditional music from Kosovo, a lullaby penned by Persian singer Mahsa Vahdat, a ballad from Italian singer-songwriter Pino Daniele, French composer Gabriel Fauré’s art song “Les Berceaux”, themes for film written by Japan’s Shigeru Umebayashi and Poland’s Krzysztof Komeda, and more. “Our duo, our project, is a musical journey,” says Elina. “Different styles and different languages to bridge the gap between people”. Duni’s resourcefulness as singer is well-matched by Luft’s instrumental skills, the guitarist drifting mellifluously between idioms, gently enveloping melodies, underlining emotional expression in the song texts, and enhancing atmospheres. Reaching for the Moon was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in June 2025. The album, produced by Manfred Eicher, is released as Elina Duni and Rob Luft embark on a European tour with concerts in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Albania.