Biography
Spanish pianist virtuoso Xavi Torres (1991) is one of the most outstanding young musicians from the European scene.
His music is extremely imaginative and melodic while being rhythmically very strong and energetic, combining his Mediterranean roots with the Amsterdam experience, classical music and South American rhythms. The compositions and the interplay are in constant evolution and exploration, which keeps every performance fresh, bringing the audience into several emotions and states throughout the concerts.
After having extensively studied Classical and Jazz. He has won several international prizes (such as the Dutch Jazz Competition, Best soloist at the Getxo competition or Keep an Eye International Jazz Award), and he is the second Spanish to ever be in the finals of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in December 2018, after Jorge Rossy in 1992.
He has released 6 albums as a leader, which had great answers by critics and audience all around Europe. His last album is “Quarantena Songs”: During the first pandemic lockdown, Torres wrote one piece every day for 30 days, as an exercise of keeping the creative energy going, and recorded a selection of them with two different all-stars rhythm sections, in order to have more colors for each song. One from Spain with Reinier Elizarde “El Negrón” on double bass and Andreu Pitarch on drums, and one from the Netherlands with Clemens van der Feen on double bass and Jamie Peet on drums.
Learning the basics of piano from his sister Neus, Xavi Torres fell in love with the instrument as a young boy. He soon developed an interest in jazz, blues and improvisation, so he decided he wanted to study jazz piano in Barcelona. The freedom and improvisation in jazz opened new worlds for him, but classical music remained steadily in his heart. Rather than choosing one or the other, when Torres went to Amsterdam to further his studies in jazz, he decided to start the bachelor in classical piano at the same time, combining his two loves, which recently brought to live the acclaimed Kind of Beethoven project.
Having extensively studied both classical and jazz music, Xavi Torres has an exceptional outlook on contemporary music - like being fluent in two languages.
His music comes from being very connected with the reality and its struggles, but it trascends them and speaks on its own, expressing all the mixed feelings of the moment: from sadness to hope to nostalgia to gratitude with strong attention to details and nuances. “I believe music, and art in general, has a double size. On one hand it is a product of the world that surrounds us, on the other hand, art also works as an escape way from this reality. My inspiration to create music comes from this duality. I try to be very connected with the reality and its struggles, and then I try to create music that transcends it and speaks on its own. Music is one of the tools to keep us being creative and bringing positive things to create some kind of positive impact.”
He has recorded more than 45 albums with several bands and played worlwide with musicians like Miguel Zenon, Seamus Blake, Aynur Dogan, Alex Sipiagin, Dick Oatts, Terell Stafford, Jasper Hoiby Jesse van Ruller, Nir Felder, Tineke Postma, Jorge Rossy. He has written music for FUSE, Dudok String Quartet and the Intercontinental Ensemble, among others, and has premiered Lluís Vidal's Piano Concerto.
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