Internationally acclaimed pianist Neil Pearlman celebrates the release of his first solo piano album, Refractions. This will be a particularly special evening because the album was recorded right here on the piano in the Old Church. Known for bringing fresh ideas to the piano in traditional Scottish music, Neil has collected several melodies from the Gaelic song, bagpipe and fiddle repertoires and reimagined them on the piano. “I often describe my solo piano pieces as looking at a tune through a prism” he writes, referring to the way his improvisations highlight different facets of the melody each time. In this show Neil will present the album in full along with a few other favorite tunes. Some of the pieces treat the source as a springboard for improvisation, some explore the wealth of melodic variations that already exist in the tradition and others let the simple beauty of the melodies shine. Neil tours regularly in a duo with Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson and in several projects with fiddler Katie McNally, as well as appearing more infrequently with a host of other projects. He is also the host of the TradCafe podcast, a series of conversations and collaborations with great musicians from a wide variety of cultures and traditions.
—
www.neilpearlman.com
www.tradcafe.org
- This event has passed.