Alex Koo (solo piano)

Seemingly destined for a career as a classical concert pianist, Belgian-Japanese keyboard wizard Alex Koo became enamoured with jazz. In the brand new Etudes for Piano (2023), he combines his love of 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 to study and teach at the prestigious 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 between Debussy, Chopin, Reich and Rachmaninov on the one hand, and Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. Alex Koo is a beguiling pedigree storyteller at the piano.

PS: Bring your own yoga mat for this lying-down concert.