Laura Chihaia
pianist
composer
Biography
Laura Chihaia starts attending piano lessons at the
age of 5 and pursues a classical piano training with
respected teachers such as Verona Maier in
Bucharest, Grigory Gruzman in Weimar and Ronald
Brautigam at the Musik Akademie Basel, Switzerland.
As part of her formation she participates in various
masterclasses with Akiko Ebi, Jay Gottlieb, Pietro de
Maria, Yong Hi Moon and Sir András Schiff. In 2017 she
takes on the journey of improvisation as part of the
Minor in Jazz at the Jazzcampus Basel. There she
works with Malcolm Braff, Guillermo Klein and Jorge
Rossy, developing a sense for improvisation and
composition likewise. As a soloist, devoted chamber
musician and improviser she performs in Switzerland,
Romania, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Spain and
Mexico in venues like the Stadtcasino Basel and
Konzerthaus Berlin. In recent years she has focused on
the work on classical contemporary repertoire alongside Jean-Pierre Drouet, Jürg Henneberger and
Mike Svoboda, expanding her pianistic vocabulary, including extended techniques. Her wish for a
greater, more unified art form developed into interdisciplinary collaborations with the
Bundesjugendbalett Hamburg, the UWE-Festival in München and the Theater Basel in the production
„Das Grosse Heft“, directed by Tilmann Köhler. Her experimental nature led her to performative
concerts, such as Maurizio Kagel’s La Trahison Orale, but also to a collaboration with the Swiss artists
Alvin Schwaar and Michael Anklin, a trio in which she performs as a singer. At this point in time she
carries a busy concert schedule, with programmes varying from solo classical piano recitals, over
contemporary chamber music to interdisciplinary projects and free jazz improvisation. In the past years
she created the Laura Chihaia Trio alongside Los Angeles based Andrew Lessman and Masatoshi Sato,
where she seeks finding and shaping her own musical horizons. Their album Water Is the Softest Thing appeared 2020 on HOUT records and is available on all streaming platforms.
LCT
Water Is the Softest Thing
thanks to The Department of Cultural Affairs and The Center for Cultural Innovation Los Angeles, Ruth und Paul Wallach Stiftung
thanks to The Department of Cultural Affairs and The Center for Cultural Innovation Los Angeles, Ruth und Paul Wallach Stiftung
Water is the softest thing, yet it
can penetrate mountains and earth.
This quote from Lao Tze coins the name of the first EP of the Laura Chihaia Trio. It describes the concept of renouncing rigor and violence and thus the apparently paradoxical acquisition of pure power. Water Is the Softest Thing is the first album by the Swiss-American Laura Chihaia Trio, with Laura Chihaia on piano, Masatoshi Sato on bass and Andrew Lessman on drums. The trio experiments in the field of free jazz improvisation and with the EP Water is the Softest Thing is searching for music in its essential nature, outside of form and predetermined harmony structure. The Laura Chihaia Trio sees itself as an encounter of different languages and styles: Masatoshi Sato, who studied under Charlie Haden, already stands in direct relationship with Ornette Coleman’s music, Andrew Lessman is active in both the jazz and the pop scene and Laura Chihaia was educated in the school of classical music and European modern improvisation. These influences add to an interesting vocabulary, a form-detached experience of music. Intimacy, spontaneity and warmth define the sound of the trio.
This quote from Lao Tze coins the name of the first EP of the Laura Chihaia Trio. It describes the concept of renouncing rigor and violence and thus the apparently paradoxical acquisition of pure power. Water Is the Softest Thing is the first album by the Swiss-American Laura Chihaia Trio, with Laura Chihaia on piano, Masatoshi Sato on bass and Andrew Lessman on drums. The trio experiments in the field of free jazz improvisation and with the EP Water is the Softest Thing is searching for music in its essential nature, outside of form and predetermined harmony structure. The Laura Chihaia Trio sees itself as an encounter of different languages and styles: Masatoshi Sato, who studied under Charlie Haden, already stands in direct relationship with Ornette Coleman’s music, Andrew Lessman is active in both the jazz and the pop scene and Laura Chihaia was educated in the school of classical music and European modern improvisation. These influences add to an interesting vocabulary, a form-detached experience of music. Intimacy, spontaneity and warmth define the sound of the trio.
Laura Chihaia Trio