East-West-Central-South: African contemporary piano music – Jan Gerdes

Contents

Loveday: Johannesburg Etude 1 & Johannesburg Etude 2

Khumalo A.: Schau-fe[r]n-ster II, No.1, No.2 & No.3

Khumalo, A: Color me in

Chidi Obijiaku: A Walk In A Misty Morning

Ezra Abate Yimam: Five Short Piano Pieces

I. Basso Ostinato

II. Prelude

III. Kids Game

IV. Thought

V. Bourlesqua

Ndodana-Breen: Isiko

André Bangambula Vindu: Suite for Piano, Lullaby

Pianist Jan Gerdes is one of the most interesting and versatile musicians of his generation. As an award-winning pianist between tradition and avant-garde, he has mastered both the classical-romantic and contemporary repertoires.

Jan Gerdes studied piano at the conservatories in Hanover, Detmold and Essen with Kurt Bauer, Renate Kretschmar-Fischer, Nerine Barrett and Bernhard Wambach. An international concert career has taken the award-winning artist to many European countries, South America and the Far East. He has performed at renowned festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, MaerzMusik Berlin, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Bregenz Festival, Festival Musica Strasbourg, Kunstfest Weimar, Centre Acanthes Metz, Ultraschall Berlin, Beethovenfest Bonn and Darmstädter Ferienkurse and has played in major concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Alte Oper Frankfurt and Berliner Philharmonie.

He has made CD, television and radio recordings for NDR, WDR, MDR, HR, RB, ORF and Deutschlandradio Berlin, including four solo albums.

Gerdes has worked with some of the most important contemporary composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann and Peter Ruzicka and has premiered works by other renowned composers.

As a crossover artist between classical music, new music and electronic music, he has founded the electro-acoustic projects EROL and rand which explore the interface between contemporary piano music and electronic club culture.

Recently, Jan Gerdes has also been very active as a composer. His solo project Songs and Improvisations – the album of the same name was released at the end of 2023 – moves stylistically between classical music and jazz.