David Virelles (solo piano)

Saturday, September 24

TIME: 7:15-8:15PM

VENUE: LOGAN CENTER PERFORMANCE HALL. 915 East 60TH ST.

DAVID VIRELLES

Santiago de Cuba-born pianist David Virelles has established himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation. He is a Shifting Foundation Fellow and the recipient of the prestigious Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, a CINTAS Fellowship in Music Composition, a Louis Applebaum Award, a Cristobal Díaz Ayala Travel Grant, and awards from Canada Council for the Arts and The Jazz Gallery Commission. He has been named #1 Rising Star in the piano category by DownBeat and Artist of the Year by Musica Jazz Magazine in Italy. While he was a student at Humber College in Toronto, Virelles won the Oscar Peterson Prize, which was presented by Peterson himself.

Virelles has collaborated with artists including Henry Threadgill, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Potter, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Tom Harrell, Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Milford Graves, Marcus Gilmore, and Román Díaz. His album, Continuum, was featured on many Best of the Year lists, including The New York Times’. Since then, his projects Mbóko, Antenna, and Gnosis have all been critically acclaimed. His 2017 release, Igbó Alákọrin (The Singer's Grove) Vol I & II, which features music legends from Santiago, was named Best Latin Jazz Album by NPR. His most recent releases are Transformación del Arcoiris, which he created from confinement in New York City during the pandemic, and NUNA, which is an exploration of the solo piano format.

Virelles is a guest teacher at JazzCampus and the special program FocusYear in Basel, and is a piano professor at the University of the Arts in Zürich, Switzerland.