π van Piano with Alex Koo / Satoko Fujii

Scattered throughout the month of May, Ha gathers a series of captivating voices from the piano landscape. Get to know these masters at π of Piano in an intimate setting - literally, as the audience takes their seats around the piano. 

Satoko Fujii solo: 'Torrent'

With Satoko Fujii's piano playing, you step into an almost magical universe of unknown sounds. Over the past decades, this Japanese artist has been honing and experimenting with her sound, and you can hear it. Crystal clear, with a special sense of space and structures. She presents her new and ninth solo album Torrent.

Solos seem to both liberate and refine Fujii's abilities to tell musical stories. Alone at the keyboard, she holds her audiences spellbound in clubs in Europe and the U.S. and at prominent jazz festivals worldwide.

• “Most vivid is the totality of her musicianship … It’s particularly encouraging to hear a pianist of her generation who is possessed of such a mature concept of space.” – Chris Kelsey, Cadence
• Torrent is “One of the Best Solo Recordings of 2023” – New York City Jazz Record
• "Best of 2023 ... a willing and ceaseless innovator and experimenter. Like so much of her solo work,Torrentprovides a wealth of inventive material for listeners.” – Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz

Alex Koo solo: 'Etudes for Piano'

Belgian-Japanese keyboard wizard Alex Koo seemed destined for a career as a classical concert pianist, but became enamored with jazz. With the brand new Etudes for Piano, he merges his predilection for both worlds. Adventure and virtuosity go hand in hand with melancholy and elbow room (literally, for those who really know Koo).

Driven by his passion, Koo moved to New York, where he studied and taught at the renowned NYU Steinhardt. There he met jazz greats Mark Turner and Ralph Alessi, with whom he released the 2019 album Applebueseagreen, which was promptly included in the legendary Downbeat Jazz Magazine's prestigious list of "Best Albums of 2019" with the words "Stunningly original.

His music sounds like a marriage of Debussy, Chopin, Reich, Rachmaninov on the one hand and Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. Alex Koo is an imploring pedigree storyteller on piano.

What Wadada Leo Smith is to the trumpet, Satoko Fujii is to the piano: one of the most riveting improvisers to ever play the instrument …

Alan Young, New York Music Daily

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π van Piano ✨ masters in intimate circle