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Benjamin Lackner:

Spindrift

Back with a newly formed quintet, gathered together for a particularly fruitful 2024 session in Southern France, the German-American pianist Benjamin Lackner now presents a different side of his composer-approach that should go a step further in exposing Lackner as a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary jazz world. Trumpeter Mathias Eick is the sole returnee from Lackner’s debut Last Decade and heard here in striking dualism with Mark Turner’s idiosyncratic saxophone dialect, forming a key-characteristic of the interplay that permeates Spindrift. The horn-duo and pianist are joined by the nonpareil bassist Linda May Han Oh and French drummer Matthieu Chazarenc, who was part of Lackner’s trio before the pianist’s tenure with ECM.

“I spent the last two years writing nearly 100 tunes and experimenting with two or three voices in each song,” Lackner outlines the process that led to new material. “I would write the tune, record a demo version that same day and then let it rest for a week before deciding on whether it was a keeper or not. The closer we got to the recording the more I started editing my list down and I showed up in the studio for the recording with about 20 songs. We chose the nine we deemed the best for the session. I was really blown away by how the musicians approached the music with such openness and spontaneity, despite a lot of the music having been far more written out than on Last Decade.“

Seong-Jin Cho:

Ravel - The Complete Solo Piano Works

Having loved Ravel since childhood, Seong-Jin Cho has chosen to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth by recording his complete solo piano music and the two concertos. He is joined in the latter by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, following acclaimed live performances with them as part of his ongoing focus on the French composer. Cho’s insightful readings of Ravel, on stage and in the studio, underline his status as one of today’s most elegant and accomplished pianists, ten years on from his Chopin Competition victory.

Deutsche Grammophon releases the first of two albums, Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Works, today. (digitally and on two CDs). The second album, containing the two piano concertos and a deluxe edition will soon follow!

Seong-Jin Cho has always felt a close connection with the French piano literature and found himself fully immersed in Ravel while studying at the Paris Conservatoire. Discussing the challenges of the solo works, he points to the composer’s orchestral sound and meticulous attention to detail. “Ravel really knew what he wanted, so I try to follow his specific markings,” he says. “Miroirs, for example, is incredibly technically demanding. It’s so sensitive and dramatic, full of imagination and colour – it’s almost impossible to apply every marking, but I try my best!”

Recent reviews suggest he knows exactly how to realize Ravel’s wishes. Following a recital in Madrid in March, Scherzo hailed Cho as “perhaps the finest Ravel interpreter of our time”, while after his Edinburgh Festival recital, The Scotsman wrote, “With what seemed like impossibly perfect precision, the first half of all Ravel heard Cho in a contrasting and extensive range of colour, coupled with a sense of flow that allowed the music to breathe with ease and warmth.”

Maria Duenas:

Paganini - 24 Caprices

María Dueñas finds the perfect balance between artistry and technique as she tackles an icon of the repertoire for her second Deutsche Grammophon album. Having earned rave reviews and a 2024 OPUS KLASSIK Young Talent of the Year award for her DG debut, Beethoven and Beyond, the Spanish violinist now turns to Paganini’s legendary 24 Caprices. She couples these with a selection of later works inspired by Paganini, presenting music by composers ranging from Berlioz to Gabriela Ortiz. Dueñas is joined in chamber pieces by Boris Kuschnir, pianists Itamar Golan and Alexander Malofeev and guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre, and in orchestral caprices by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Mihhail Gerts. 
 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold:

The Korngold Symphony-Orch della Svizzera, Mauceri

Supertrain Records is proud to present an extraordinarily special release, THE KORNGOLD SYMPHONY, featuring two performances of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s 20th Century Masterpiece. On this two-disc release, the first disc presents, for the first time ever, a recording of the Symphony in F#, Op.40 performed by the composer himself, an incredibly special historical recording from the Korngold Family Archives.  

The second disc presents a 1997 live performance by conductor John Mauceri and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, connecting the spirit of the work from conception - in the mind and fingers of the great composer - to its full glory performed by a symphony orchestra.  ?Starting in 2019, an inquiry was made by Supertrain about the 1997 orchestra recording.  After permission was obtained from the orchestra and conductor, Mauceri connected all of the parties with Leslie Korngold, the composer’s grandson.  In part of Mauceri’s research into this Symphony back in the 1990s, he had asked the family about the existence of any materials which might shed light on the history of the piece and how it might be interpreted.  The conductor was granted access to this incredible reference recording of Korngold playing the piece himself from the early 1950s.  
The mysteries of recording’s existence and its journey to this current release are discussed in the 24 page booklet including essays from Leslie Korngold, John Mauceri, and Richard Guérin of Supertrain Records. The booklet also includes archival photos of Korngold, the Korngold Family, and images of the original recording source material.
 

Pritesh Walia:

Hope Town

Jazz guitarist extraordinaire Pritesh Walia has been bubbling under the surface of wider public awareness and acclaim for several years. His nimble technical skills and deep sense of musicality has been making its mark in performances as a leader and as sideman, while his strides in education—after graduating from Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory--have helped to spread his message in that capacity.

But with the release of Walia’s impressive debut album Hopetown, featuring his guitar trio with bassist Chris Worden and drummer Gen Yoshimura, Walia is poised to go public in a more game-changing way. His long-awaited recording debut, a fresh and deep excursion into the neo-mainstream, clean-toned jazz guitar trio tradition, boldly initiates the discography portion of his career, with yet three other varied albums soon to follow. Earlier this year, he released the self-titled album with his organ trio PSA, and coming soon are albums by his big band and a special strings project.

Arild Andersen:

Landloper

Arild Andersen, one of jazz’s most widely acclaimed bassists, presents his first solo album. Characteristically broad in its musical scope and creative range, Landloper was recorded primarily at  Oslo’s Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene (with one piece recorded at Arild’s home).  Choice of repertoire in this recital reflects on Arild’s artistic journey, and, alongside Andersen originals (“Dreamhorse”, “Mira”, “Landloper”), we find Norwegian traditional music (“Old Stev”), a romantic jazz standard (“A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”), and new light cast upon free jazz classics (Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts”, Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”, Charlie Haden’s “Song for Che”).  Andersen’s performances combine his masterful bass playing with real-time creation of electronic loops that bring an atmospheric dimension to solo playing and fresh opportunities for interaction.

Keith Jarrett:

The Old Country

Keith Jarrett’s recordings from the Deer Head Inn have a special place among his recordings devoted to explorations of jazz standards and the American songbook. And The Old Country is a document of particular historical significance, from several perspectives.

The Deer Head Inn, situated in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Water Gap Region, has presented live music continuously since 1950, making it one of the US’s oldest jazz clubs. In 1961, the club gave Jarrett, then 16 years old, his first gig as leader of a piano trio. When owners Bob and Fay Lehr retired, handing the reins over to their daughter Dona and son-in-law Christopher Solliday, Jarrett offered to play there again, to honour the club’s ongoing commitment to jazz. On September 16, 1992, Jarrett, joined by Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, played to a packed house. There had been no promotion, but news of the event had spread by word of mouth. The Deer Head is an intimate venue and the Allentown Morning Call paper subsequently reported that, “of the 130 people inside the club, 30 had to stand. On the porch outside, another 50 or 60 people stood.”

The spontaneously organized performance marked the only occasion on which Jarrett, Peacock and Motian played as a trio. Peacock, at the time, was a dedicated member of the Standards trio completed by Jack DeJohnette. Motian had been drummer of Jarrett’s ‘American quartet’ (refer to The Survivors Suite and Eyes of the Heart), but hadn’t worked with Jarrett since that group’s dissolution. “Not only had I not played piano at the Deer Head for 30 years, but I hadn’t played with Paul Motian for 16 years. So it was like a reunion and a jam session at the same time”, wrote Jarrett in the liner notes to At The Deer Head Inn, the initial selection of material issued from this gig, in 1994.

Lucie Horsch:

The Bruggen Project

Dutch recorder virtuoso Lucie Horsch announces her new Decca album, a compelling programme of early 18th-century compositions delivered on instruments of the same vintage. The Brüggen Project, out today, just after the 90th anniversary of Brüggen’s birth, takes the listener back to a golden age of instrument making. Its tracklist features fourteen historic recorders, each blessed with its own distinctive sound and musical personality.

Frans Brüggen, a towering figure in the world of period-instrument performance, often played on the historic recorders he acquired during his long and illustrious career. The Dutch musician’s peerless collection largely fell silent after his death ten years ago. Lucie has restored it to vibrant life. The album contains sublime interpretations of ensemble pieces by Marcello, Corelli and J.S. Bach, including the famous Air from the latter’s Third Orchestral Suite and Brüggen’s transcription of his Concerto in E major BWV 1053. It also trains the spotlight on a sequence of solo works that demonstrates the tonal variety and subtle nuances of instruments created three centuries ago in London, Paris, Nuremberg and the Netherlands.

Jakob Bro:

Taking Turns

Recorded ten years ago in New York, and released now for the first time, Taking Turns is a snapshot of Jakob Bro’s music in a period of transition. In a chronological discography of Bro’s sessions, it would follow Gefion, the Danish guitarist’s leader debut for ECM, by a few months. Atmospherically and conceptually, it extends and rounds off work begun earlier with saxophonist Lee Konitz.

A major figure in jazz history from The Birth of the Cool onwards, Konitz came into Jakob Bro’s musical life in 2008, on the recommendation of Paul Motian, and contributed to a trilogy of albums – Balladeering, Time and December Song – issued on Bro’s own label.  The association, Jakob says, changed his priorities. “I felt I had found a direction that worked for me when Lee started playing my pieces.  That might seem obvious, taking the greatness of Konitz as an improviser into consideration, but for me it was a revelation. From Day One, Lee was quite freely interpreting my music, playing around the melodies, hinting at them, not necessarily playing them as written.  And it made me think in a new way about how much music I should bring in, how much direction I should give, for the group sound to find its own natural balance and flow. That’s something I’ve been exploring ever since.”

Yuja Wang:

Messiaen - Turangalila Symphonie w/BSO,Nelsons

Captured at Boston’s Symphony Hall in April 2024, this new Deutsche Grammophon recording presents Messiaen’s monumental Turangalîla-Symphonie. The work was one of the centrepieces of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s “Music of the Senses” Festival, aimed at expanding the audience experience through music that plays with colour, light, sound and time. The BSO and its Music Director Andris Nelsons were joined on stage by pianist and exclusive DG artist Yuja Wang and by Cécile Lartigau, one of today’s rare ondes Martenot players. 

A first taste of their dazzling interpretation can be heard in the exuberant fifth movement, Joie du sang des étoiles, released on 15 November. The full recording will be released as a digital album on 6 December 2025, marking the 75th anniversary of the world premiere, given by the BSO and Leonard Bernstein on 2 December 1949. A physical release will follow in 2025. 
The BSO is celebrating two other significant anniversaries this year – it is 150 years since the birth of Serge Koussevitzky, its legendary ninth Music Director, and 100 years since his appointment to that role. It was Koussevitzky who commissioned Turangalîla, giving Messiaen free rein by telling him, “Choose as many instruments as you desire, write a work as long as you wish and in the style you want.”

The result was this extraordinary, 10-movement symphony for large orchestra – including a vast array of percussion – with solo piano and ondes Martenot (an early electronic instrument). It was the perfect work for the BSO to programme in its festival, not only because of its origins, but also because Messiaen’s synaesthesia meant he saw colours when he heard or imagined sound. He called Turangalîla, which was inspired in part by the Tristan myth, “the most coloured” of his works and a “hymn to joy”. Under Nelsons’ baton, the BSO and the two virtuosic soloists reveal every facet of the work’s kaleidoscopic colours, heady harmonies and sweeping emotional drama.

Shabaka:

Possession

Renowned musician, Shabaka, releases his new EP, Possession via Impulse! Records. The EP follows his recent critically well-received album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge It’s Grace, and debuts a new track, “To The Moon” with fellow flautist and hip hop luminary André 3000. The EP is out now across all music providers, and you can listen here. You can watch the accompanying video that features mesmerizing visuals influenced by the album cover art.

The Possession EP release coincides with Shabaka’s ongoing international tour, which brings his experimental soundscapes and introspective compositions to audiences around the world. Upcoming dates include venues across Australia, Japan, US, and China. For more information on the tour please visit https://www.shabakahutchings.com/shabaka-hutchings/#/.

Possession builds on themes from Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace - a deeply poetic work that NPR Music’s Robin Hilton called, “Maybe the most essential listening of the week, if not the year.”  In addition to Andre 3000, notable musicians joining Shabaka on this musical exploration include special guests, Billy Woods, Elucid, Esperanza Spalding, Nduduzo Makhathini, Brandee Younger, Carlos Niño and Jason Moran.
 

Freddie De Tommaso:

Puccini

Freddie marks the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death with a new EP. Recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Ed Gardner. Having already released some of Puccini’s greatest works including arias and duets on previous albums.

Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott:

Merci

Merci is a deeply personal expression of gratitude, a celebration of the powerful relationships that keep music alive. This effervescent recording is rooted in the compositions of Gabriel Fauré, whom Stott calls her “musical soulmate,” and follows the arcs of his inspiration and influence, from the creations of his teacher Camille Saint-Saëns and his friend and supporter Pauline Viardot to works by his student Nadia Boulanger and her sister, Lili. Merci is testament to the gift of friendship, to the connections among performers, between students and teachers, and across generations that make music magic.

Ma and Stott—both of whom have connections to Fauré through their respective teachers Luise Vosgerchian and Nadia Boulanger—reveal the extent of Fauré’s influence and inspiration through a recording that juxtaposes Fauré’s works for strings and piano with compositions by members of his musical family. Beginning with his Berceuse, Op. 16, Fauré’s works alternate with those of his student (Nadia Boulanger), teacher (Camille Saint-Saëns), and friends and contemporaries (Lili Boulanger, Pauline Viardot), in a tribute to the belief that, in Ma’s words, “we musicians stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and that we can only hope that ours will sustain those who come after.”

 

Kian Soltani:

Home

A protegé of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniel Barenboim, and hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.

In 23/24 season he is the Focus Artist of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and will share stages with Wiener Symphoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Aside from orchestral and recital concerts, he will maintain busy schedule comprising of tours with Camerata Salzburg and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

His recent orchestral highlights include Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. As a recitalist he continues to appear in prestigious halls and series including Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin; Wigmore Hall, London; Schubertiade; Musikverein, Vienna; Beethovenhaus, Bonn; and Konzerthaus Dortmund.

In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc ‘Home’, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in 2018, with Gramophone describing the recording as “sublime”. Soltani has since recorded discs including the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018 released by Warner Classics and Dvorák’s Cello Concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim in August 2020.

The 25-year-old cellist Kian Soltani releases his debut DG album performed with pianist Aaron Pilsan, Home. Reflecting his Austrian and Persian roots, Home features Schubert's Sonata in A Minor (Arpeggione) and Schumann's "Du bist wie eine Blume," as well as world premiere recordings of Iranian composer Reza Vali's Seven Persian Folk Songs, written for Soltani, and the young cellist's own composition, Persian Fire Dance. 

Lisa Reagan:

Coventry Carol

A very special release for the holidays from Lisa Reagan, is the newly produced video for “Coventry Carol,” from Lisa’s album Noel. This ephemeral video directed by Jordan Mizrahi, captures the tone of the Tudor period of the English Renaissance, which saw a flourishing of art, architecture, trade, exploration and commerce. Lisa explains, “’Coventry Carol’ dates back to the mid-1500s and was a part of the Coventry Pageant, an annual performance in Coventry, England. In this pageant, Joseph receives a visit from an angel who instructs him to take his child to Egypt to protect him from Herod's massacre of the innocents. In our video, we chose to use a ballerina to represent these innocent souls.

“Each Christmas season brings renewed hope once more: for peace on earth and goodwill toward all. This is my heartfelt prayer.” “Coventry Carol” is the second of three songs included in the nativity portion of the Pageant. It enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1940s shortly after having been performed in the bombed-out World War II ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

Lisa’s operatic history with the Washington National Opera, provides her with the prowess to impart pathos to the words of the women of Bethlehem. While at the WNO, she had the honor of sharing the stage with icons Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Renee Fleming among others, as well as performing at White House special events.

Clement Ducol & Camille:

Emilia Perez OMPS

Sony Music Masterworks releases EMILIA PÉREZ (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) featuring original songs and score music written by CLÉMENT DUCOL and CAMILLE for the award-winning musical drama from Jacques Audiard. Acclaimed composer Clément Ducol and chart-topping French singer Camille have crafted an expansive body of music covering multiple genres, each tailored to the onscreen story and its cast of characters. Included within the album are 16 Spanish-language vocal tracks featuring performances by the film’s ensemble cast including Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. With music supervision by Pierre-Marie Dru, who also acts as the album’s executive producer, the soundtrack captures the complexity of each character’s innermost thoughts and feelings, further immersing viewers into the onscreen story while complimenting Audiard’s bold filmmaking vision. Following an award-winning festival run, Emilia Pérez debuts in select US theaters today before making its streaming debut in the US, UK and Ireland exclusively on Netflix beginning Wednesday, November 13.

INSTAGRAM

Samara Joy:

Portrait

“I’m still speechless,” says Samara Joy, reflecting on her 2023 Grammy win for Best New Artist. When the Bronx-raised jazz vocalist, 24, tries to place herself back in that historic moment today, she feels nothing but gratitude.

At the same time, Joy understood then that she couldn’t let the award define her. She still had a lifetime of music to explore, a tight-knit crew of extraordinary collaborators to guide, and a passion for songwriting to nurture. So Joy did what any committed, eternally curious jazz musician would do: She hit the road. For her and her band, a seemingly endless run of sold-out tour dates became a nightly opportunity to reach new creative heights. “I just got back to work, doing what, in essence, got me the Grammy in the first place,” she says. 

Joy’s new Verve Records release, Portrait, is the proper follow-up to Linger Awhile, her 2022 breakthrough LP, and it represents the next phase in her continuing artistic evolution — unbound by expectations. 

Portrait documents the immersive, seemingly telepathic rapport she’s developed with her touring band, which includes musicians she learned the jazz craft alongside while earning her undergraduate degree; in fact, it wasn’t until college that Joy began to pursue jazz singing. On the strength of that cozy dynamic — on the road, "I'm among friends, which explains personal chemistry that translates to our live performances,” Joy says. The vocalist offers an album that both honors jazz heritage while staking out bold, singular territory. Whatever a rote, singer-with-sidemen record is, Portrait is not.  

Marina Albero:

A Nomad of Sound

Marina Albero resumes her journey across the world on here new album: A Nomad of Sound. Barcelona-born jazz pianist charts an exciting course abroad with a release inspired by the freedom to explore A Nomad of Sound, written and recorded during a self-designed musical residency in New Orleans in early 2024, is the overture to an ambitious new chapter in jazz pianist Marina Albero’s lifelong musical travelogue.

The album will be self-released on November 3rd at a performance by Albero in the closing days of Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival. It will initially be available on CD and digital music platforms, with a vinyl pressing soon to follow. Albero’s previous album A Life Soundtrack (2019, also self-released) spent five weeks on the national jazz charts, where it peaked at #23.

A Nomad of Sound was engineered, mixed and mastered by top producer Justin Armstrong. The album’s six tracks feature several diverse lineups of predominantly NOLA-based musicians, including bassist Amina Scott, drummer Pedro Segundo, and Cuban multi-instrumentalist Yusa. Albero’s daughter Serena contributes vocals in English, Spanish and Catalan.

Stylistically, A Nomad of Sound wanders as freely as its creator, delivering contemplative pieces for jazz quintet, a hard-driving Latin number, and a New Orleans style funeral march on which Albero’s fiery keytar excursions conduct a full brass band. Recording sessions took place at New Orleans’ Marigny Studios and Ellis Marsalis Center, where Albero had the honor of playing on the late master’s piano.

Donald Vega:

All is Merry and Bright

Echoing the traditions of holiday albums by Oscar Peterson and Nat King Cole, and taking inspiration from Vince Guaraldi’s holiday classic, Donald Vega has set out to make an album that families will enjoy for years to come. The album was recorded in both stereo and immersive sound by Multi GRAMMY-Winner Engineer & Producer Jim Anderson. Here the 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and Juilliard Professor shares his inspiration behind the album: 

“The holiday season, for me, is one of the happiest times of the year. Every family has their unique traditions, whether it be holiday dinners, gathering around the Christmas tree, lighting the menorah, or moments of reflection," Vega shares. "The holidays are a time of fellowship and laughter, where we reminisce fondly on years gone by while continuing to create new memories with friends and loved ones. My hope is this album becomes part of each family’s holiday tradition as they take time to cherish and celebrate one another.”

“All is Merry and Bright" finds Donald Vega teaming up once again with GRAMMY award-winning engineer/producer Jim Anderson. They recently collaborated on Vega’s last album, “As I Travel”, (Imagery Records, 2023). The recording of “All is Merry and Bright” renders every inflection of Vega’s piano with such presence and clarity, perfectly complementing Donald's art which is defined by his melodic phrasing and signature light touch. The sessions for “Merry & Bright", recorded, mixed, and mastered in Digital eXtreme Definition (352.8kHz/32bit), are among Anderson Audio's finest engineering achievements with Ulrike Anderson overseeing the technical production. The immersive version was mixed at Skywalker Sound, Marin County, California, and mastered by 2L’s Morten Lindberg in Norway.

Jon Batiste:

Beethoven Blues

Multi-Grammy and Oscar Award winner Jon Batiste today announced his eighth studio album, Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1), out November 15 via Verve Records / Interscope. Marking the first installment in Batiste’s new solo piano series, the project showcases his interpolations of some of Beethoven’s most iconic works, which he has reimagined through an expansive lens. These reimagined classics embody the indomitable spirit of the blues, and – true to Batiste’s “message of open-armed inclusivity” (New York Times) – embrace a broad genre spectrum.  

The inspiration for Beethoven Blues gained momentum after a 2023 interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace, where Batiste demonstrated music’s ability to transcend genre borders by transforming Beethoven’s Bagatelle No. 25 (“Für Elise”) at the piano (watch HERE). The profound response from audiences across social media helped signal the timing was right to make this long-held album idea a reality. For years, Batiste has incorporated interpolations of classical music into his albums, TV performances, and live shows, but Beethoven Blues marks the first time he’s dedicated an entire album to this practice.

“For each work on the album, the starting point was one of Beethoven’s original compositions,” Batiste shared. “From there, I created something new at the piano, in real time. Spontaneous composition is a practice that’s all but lost in classical music, which can sometimes feel overly canonized.  Recording this album was a deeply spiritual experience. It allowed me to honor Beethoven’s transcendent artistry while bringing his work into dialogue with my own creative journey.”

Batiste has been variously described as “a certified musical genius” (The Guardian), “a protean pianist and megawatt personality” (Variety), and “a once-in-a-generation talent, with a passion for … connecting people through a shared love of music-making” (Classic FM). Born into a long line of Louisiana musicians, he trained as a classical pianist and received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano from New York’s Juilliard School. He now works with students and faculty as an inaugural Juilliard Creative Associate, as well as serving on the Juilliard board.  Additionally, Batiste is on the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Hall as an Artist Trustee.

He returned to his classical roots in the 2021-22 season, when he curated a multi-concert “Perspectives” series at New York’s Carnegie Hall. This was crowned by the world premiere of his American Symphony (2022), a Carnegie Hall commission, on the venue’s main stage. Classical Source welcomed this large-scale orchestral work as “a joyous and beefy blend of orchestral sounds, funk, Dixieland, Latin, gospel, country, cool jazz, swing, hip-hop, R&B, as well as other styles and genres,” while Variety reported: 

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