Explore what's on: Thursday 3 June 2010

Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau is one of the most exciting musicians in his field today. A regular performer both as a solo artist and with his Brad Mehldau Trio, he has toured and recorded extensively with great success.

Brad Mehldau's musical personality forms a dichotomy. First and foremost an improviser, he cherishes the surprise and wonder that can arise from a spontaneous musical idea. But he also has a deep fascination for the formal architecture of music and it informs everything he plays, the musical thought serving as an expressive device. Mehldau enjoys juxtaposing extremes, often following a complex improvisation with a stripped-down, emotionally direct ballad.

Jazz isn't the only string to Mehldau's bow. In 2005, soprano Renée Fleming premièred The Blue Estuaries and The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, works for voice and piano commissioned by Carnegie Hall, New York, and later recorded to much acclaim. Two years later he premièred his piano concerto The Brady Bunch Variations at the Châtelet in Paris.

RNCM in association with Serious