SoloPiano.com

We want to take a moment to officially announce this year's (for 2023) SoloPiano.com Overall Album of the Year winner.

Congratulations to Juan María Solare and his album Stories Beyond Words!!

Pianist & composer Juan María Solare (Buenos Aires, 1966), an Argentine living in Germany, is one of those musicians that open scarcely travelled paths. The originality of his music stems from the confluence between post-Piazzolla tango and classical contemporary music. His singular style represents a synthesis of North and South, classical and popular, wit and melancholy. "Art music and light music are not irreconcilable extremes, but poles in a force field", wrote Solare about his musical bilingualism.

He has given over 500 piano recitals in Buenos Aires and dozens of Argentinean cities, plus Berlin, Hamburg, Istanbul, Finland, Denmark, Amsterdam, Madrid, Graz, Geneva, Seville, Texas, London... The audience at his concerts is fascinated by his quality and warmth.

Solare teaches Composition and Arrangements at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen (Germany), at which university he conducts the Orquesta no Típica. He has participated at the World Tango Summit on 3 occasions and in several Festivals for contemporary music (Ferienkurse Darmstadt; Festivals Eigenarten, Katarakt or blurred edges in Hamburg, etc.) . Juan is the editor of four piano albums for Ricordi Munich and a fifth one for Peters Verlag (Leipzig). 30 CDs by different performers include at least one piece composed by Juan María.

His music reached over 25 millions all-time streams on Spotify and has been included in editorial playlists such as Peaceful piano, Dinner Tango or The Magnificent Piano.

Listen to one of his selections on our official SoloPiano.com Spotify Playlist here:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7vbphwvgPuTVZREYPp69b5?si=f549996ff2404193

This Friday at 10am, tickets for my December 12th, Holiday & Dreams Concert at the Gorgeous Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion, Belbas Theatre - will go on sale.

Link to Tickets: https://www.washingtonpavilion.org/event/matthew-mayer

There will be Premier, General, and also Student Pricing available. The concert will be held in the beautiful Belbas Theatre so seating will be limited.

25 years ago, my first CD was released. From performing in the waiting room of Canistota's Ortman Clinic, to USD's Farber Hall, to McKennan Park, and now to the Pavilion.....this is a celebration of family and friends that supported a small town kid with a dream of playing piano.

I can't wait for this night and truly hope to see you there! University of South Dakota Alumni Washington Pavilion
KELOLAND News University of South Dakota Argus Leader Media

Last Month, we were excited to announce our SoloPiano Album of the Year Nominees. With great excitement we are ready to announce and congratulate our Solo Piano Album of the Year Category Winners and Runner Ups.

What makes this year even more special is out of our 10 Winner/Runner-Ups, there are 6 countries represented, including Germany, Belgium, Italy, Canada, France, and United States.

We would like to congratulate Paolo Cognetti Charles Szczepanek Juan María Solare Joe Alterman Lynn Tredeau Solo Piano Doug Hammer Tobin Mueller Bob Yonker Grégoire Jokic Ward De Vleeschhouwer Pianist - Composer

Please be sure to add these artists to your playlists along with ALL of our artists on SoloPiano.com. We are honored to help in getting these amazing artists and their music out to ears worldwide.

Stay tuned in the next couple weeks as we announce our Overall SoloPiano.com Album of the Year Winner!

Please be sure to follow our official playlists by going to www.solopiano.com and clicking on our playlist selections. You can also follow here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7vbphwvgPuTVZREYPp69b5?si=7c0e7663e77249a6

Pandora: https://pandora.app.link/Epn7bPFhDJb

Higher Level Media

We are excited to announce our 2023 SoloPiano.com Album of The Year Nominees!

Congratulations to all of the Solo Piano Artists who continue to create heartfelt and moving piano music from around the world. This year we represented over 14 different countries from 6 different categories.

Also, we want to take a moment to say thank you for all of those that continue to support us and our platform. This year we underwent one of our biggest ever back-end updates and changes. So many hours went into this, and we are super proud to continue to offer solo piano artists a FREE SoloPiano.com page, like we have for many years now.

Please take a moment to view our nominees from 2023, and be sure to add them to your favorite playlists and support their music!

Link to Nominations Here: https://solopiano.com/blog/view/the-solopiano.com-2023-album-of-the-year-nominees

Ward De Vleeschhouwer Pianist - Composer Gerald Krampl Hovig Nassanian Livio Ventura Roger Evernden - musician Greg Harradine, Composer Juan María Solare Lynn Tredeau Solo Piano Charles Szczepanek Philip Campbell Music Doug Hammer Paolo Cognetti Michael Borowski Lisa Swerdlow Michael Martinez Pete Calandra Music Tobin Mueller Joe Alterman Robin Meloy Goldsby Omar Akram Grégoire Jokic

Our amazingly talented featured artist Ed Bazel Pianist continues to share his superb talents. Here Mr. Bazel performs at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center for those battling cancer and seeking comfort through music, in which he now provides headphones to Cancer Patients!

Patients at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) now have the option of complimentary headphones streaming hours of tranquil music while they undergo chemotherapy and other infusion treatments! Through a recent donation of music headphones by the online music channel, The River of Calm – Music to Soothe Your SoulTM , patients have a new option for coping with the emotional demands of cancer.

“Watching a loved one going through a cancer diagnosis, many people feel helpless,” said Ed Bazel, founder of The River of Calm and an award-winning Nashville pianist who is spearheading the donation. “When words fail, music speaks. If we can help even one patient through a difficult ordeal like chemotherapy, then we as musicians have achieved our highest purpose in this world.”

The donation is providing wireless rechargeable music headphones at all seven VICC locations in middle Tennessee, including the Henry-Joyce Cancer Clinic at The Vanderbilt Clinic, One Hundred Oaks, Cool Springs, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Pleasant View, and Hendersonville.

Ed Bazel funded the donation through The River of Calm’s recent “Headphones for Holidays” fundraising drive. The headphones are obtained through a partnership with Alive Inside, an organization using music to increase human connection and meaning for dementia patients. Each set of headphones includes a micro SD card with specially curated playlists featuring instrumental music from The River of Calm’s independent artists.

Please take time to check out Ed Bazel and his amazing music on SoloPiano.com! www.solopiano.com

We are so sad to share the news of the passing of one of our artists on SoloPiano.com. The remarkable George Winston 😢

If you are familiar with piano music, then Mr. Winston is no stranger. He was a significant, and for many the sole, inspiration in becoming many solo pianists today.

His brilliance, combined with his humility in constantly giving back to the poor, was unmatched. We will continue to share more about George in honoring is amazing life.

To give back to his causes, please check out the links below. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this time.

Thank you, Mr. Winston. Your Legacy WILL Live on! 🙏❤️

We are deeply saddened to share the news that George Winston has passed on after a 10-year battle with cancer. George quietly and painlessly left this world while asleep on Sunday, June 4, 2023. George courageously managed serious cancers, including having a successful bone marrow transplant for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) in 2013 at City of Hope, in Duarte, California, that gratefully extended his life by 10 years. Throughout his cancer treatments, George continued to write and record new music, and he stayed true to his greatest passion: performing for live audiences while raising funds for Feeding America to help fight the national hunger crisis along with donating proceeds from each of his concerts to local food banks. Across an illustrious career spanning more than 50 years, George’s music first became known and loved by his fans with the release of his two most iconic albums, Autumn (1980) and December (1982). George's recordings evolved with the times while garnering a GRAMMY Award for Forest (plus five GRAMMY nominations) and selling over 15 million albums. George touched the hearts of generations with his acclaimed solo acoustic piano compositions. From his early days in Montana, Mississippi and Florida, to his later life living in the San Francisco Bay Area and touring to cities worldwide, America’s beautiful landscapes and natural seasons shaped his singular instrumental folk piano. With 16 solo piano albums to his name, George recorded brilliant piano music, which includes tribute recordings for Vince Guaraldi, The Doors, a Hurricane Katrina relief benefit, Gulf Coast and Louisiana Wetlands benefits, September 11 benefit, a cancer research benefit for City of Hope, the Peanuts episode “This Is America Charlie Brown: The Birth Of The Constitution,” among others. George’s legacy includes his beloved catalog as well as an archive of his own acoustic guitar and harmonica recordings, and albums by an array of Hawaiian slack key artists on his own record label, Dancing Cat Records. George is pre-deceased by his parents, George and Mary Winston, and is survived by his sister, niece and nephew.

The family of George Winston will hold a private memorial service. For donations in memory of George Winston, please visit:

Feeding America:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonFeedingAmerica

City Of Hope Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonCityOfHope

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:
https://tinyurl.com/GeorgeWinstonSloanKettering

For those in the California area, check out this concert happening by the wonderfully talented Pam Asberry and Gina Leneé, Composer/Pianist! Tickets now available! Check out the below 👇👊🔥

Contemporary Piano Concert featuring Gina Lenee and Pam Asberry Enjoy a memorable evening of contemporary piano music with Gina Lenee and Pam Asberry up close and personal at The Harmony House Van Ness.

Check out the amazing Ed Bazel Pianist our SoloPiano.com Featured Artist for June! www.solopiano.com

Contemporary pianist Ed Bazel's compositions are known as beautiful piano music with a soul-searching touch. His three independently-produced albums – Bella Piano (2013), Homecoming (2021) and The London Sessions: Reflections from Studio 2 (released Oct. 7, 2022) – present soothing, romantic melodies that are popular choices for listeners who want to relax and unwind.

Born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, Bazel has been a pianist since he was 5 years old. He recalls at age 7 being mesmerized watching The Beatles on TV as they made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Despite having loved music his entire life, Bazel will admit that his parents for 11 years forced him “kicking and screaming” to take piano lessons; later, he credits his parents for the best gift they could have ever given him.

At his parents’ insistence that he have a “real job,” Bazel pursued his education and graduated from Marshall University (business) and University of Kentucky (computer programming), degrees that later would prove beneficial.

Through the years, he studied under such greats as Jay Flippin, Lou Levy, Joe Harnell and Clare Fischer. He spent 20 years performing as a solo pianist at exotic locations and at society events around the world, including in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hills Country Club and the Ritz-Carlton. In addition to being a gifted pianist, he is a veteran producer of corporate events for Fortune 500 companies. As founder and CEO of The Bazel Group, he has worked with an extensive list of concert artists, comedians and speakers in over 25 countries. In 1991, the Los Angeles Times named him "The Marco Polo of Modern Music" for his groundbreaking work in China.

In 2019, through an entrepreneurial desire to help people find peace in an increasingly chaotic world, Bazel founded The River of Calm - Music To Soothe Your Soul™, an online music channel. Reaching listeners in more than 155 countries around the world, The River of Calm features tranquil, serene music from hundreds of gifted independent artists, including pianists, vocalists, guitarists and more. Through his River of Calm, Bazel recognizes that the arts and music play powerful roles in grounding and healing, and he seeks to pair music with mindfulness to connect and move all people forward together.

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bazel is the recipient of Miller Piano Specialists Hall of Fame Award in the Instrumentalist category (2017), Entertainer of the Year (2018) and a Lifetime Achievement Award (2019). He has been recognized by Music Row magazine in their annual "In Charge" edition and is an active officer in music-related organizations including IEBA (International Entertainment Buyers Association) as former president, lifetime member, and Corporate Talent Buyer Of The Year finalist; NATD (Nashville Association of Talent Directors) past president and lifetime member, board member, talent director and Outstanding Member Of The Year; Mindful Music Association board member; he also has held memberships with ACM, CMA, IAFE, IASB and The Recording Academy.

Bazel is an avid endurance athlete who has completed 5 marathons and in 1993, he organized and biked across America in the 3,000-mile “Transcontinental Ride for Hope” (for the City of Hope) as a fundraiser for Leukemia, from which his father was suffering at the time. He continues to accomplish bucket-list dreams on his laminated “Vision Board” hanging in his home office: Hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, participating in two Tour de France cycling vacations (the Pyrenees to Paris, the Alps to Paris) and, most recently, following in the footsteps of the Beatles and other music legends by recording in Abbey Road Studios’ famed Studio 2.

Bazel’s latest accolade from his Vision Board is The London Sessions: Reflections from Studio 2, an album/CD featuring 10 original compositions and two beloved cover renditions by The Beatles, releasing October 7, 2022.

For more information, visit EdBazel.com. His music is available for streaming / purchase through BandCamp.com.

We are so thrilled to be featuring Award Winning Artist Ed Bazel Pianist on SoloPiano! Check out the backstage story of Ed recording at THE Abbey Studios! https://solopiano.com/blog/view/ed-bazel-the-vision-the-music-and-the-mission

Also available directly on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jobf3XT1r6o

Ed Bazel: The Vision, the Music and The Mission The B Company sits down for a Q & A with pianist and composer Ed Bazel in this insightful half hour. They discuss Bazel's most recent instrumental album "The...

It is with great excitement that we announce our Official Solo Piano Album of the Year Winner at SoloPiano.com!

We are thrilled to share that the Album of the Year goes to George Winston and his album Night! Congrats to Mr. Winston and all of the nominees and category winners.

Please be sure to follow our official Solo Piano Spotify Playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7vbphwvgPuTVZREYPp69b5?si=b1a23478919a45ad

You can also listen to the 2 series Podcast interview we did with Mr. Winston a couple years ago on the Going Solo Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-solo-with-matthew-mayer/id1071493582

Stream Winston's Night Album on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Ny3xR7323y1RfdiwGsZ9p?si=Uzyx9H46QAm-iXCIVVMbMQ

We are THRILLED to be announcing our Solo Piano Album of the Year Category Winners! Please join us in congratulating all of our Winners AND Nominees and following our official SoloPiano.com Playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7vbphwvgPuTVZREYPp69b5...

Our Overall Album of the Year Winner will be announced next week! Congrats all!!
Ed Bazel Pianist George Winston Joseph Nimoh Music Neil Patton Michael Borowski Michele McLaughlin Carol Comune Catherine Marie Charlton CrusaderBeach Solo Piano Gustavo Casenave Louis Landon - Composer, Steinway Artist and Pianist for Peace Dan Kennedy

We are thrilled to announce our 2022 SoloPiano.com Nominations for our Annual Solo Piano Album of the Year Recognitions. Though we have done this for so many years, we first want to acknowledge every single album, EP, and Single we received from Artists around the world. Most of these are requests to either be featured on our website or added to our Official Spotify SoloPiano Playlist. You can hear many of our nominees and so many more on our playlist, so please follow and support all of these artists! We know it’s impossible to recognize every single album, but every album does have a story and a courageous artist who puts their soul into their work.

Nominees are recognized on several factors, and this list contains just some of the many fantastic releases that happened in solo piano music last year. Congrats to all! We will look to announce the Category Winners Next week, followed by the Overall Album of the Year in 2 weeks.

Please congratulate and support our Artists, by following their music and discovering ALL of the albums and singles released in 2022! Official Link to Nomination Page Here:

https://solopiano.com/blog/view/the-2022-solopiano.com-album-of-the-year-category-nominations

Congratulations to nominees Ward De Vleeschhouwer Pianist - Composer Gerald Krampl Antonija Pacek CrusaderBeach Solo Piano Carol Comune Matt Labarge Juan Maria Solare Doug Hammer Adam Andrews George Winston Dan Chadburn Michele McLaughlin Vicente Avella Shoshana Michel - Pianist Thad Fiscella Michael Borowski Michael Gettel Louis Landon - Composer, Steinway Artist and Pianist for Peace Dan Kennedy John Eric Copeland, Composer Pam Asberry Catherine Marie Charlton Charles Szczepanek Joseph Nimoh Music Neil Patton Kori Linae Carothers Dana Cunningham Music Gary Lindberg Ed Bazel Pianist Kurt Reiman Music Tim Neumark - Composer and Pianist Peter Kater

Great work Ed Bazel Pianist!!

A Soothing Oasis of Sound Enters Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center   Nashville – Patients at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) now have the option of complimentary headphones streaming hours of tranquil music while they undergo chemotherapy and other infusion treatments. Through a recent donation of music headphones by the online music channel,...

We are excited to be featuring a brand new solo piano release from talented Piano Artist Julie Eberhard Hanney!

Everyday Miracles is the fourth full-length solo piano album by Julie Hanney and it's a deep dive into wonder, appreciation and yes, everyday miracles. The fourteen original songs on this album were born out of taking time to appreciate all of the amazing and miraculous things that exist in our lives every single day. If we give in to fear or distraction, we can miss the abundance that occurs in our natural and spiritual world. From the wonder of birds taking flight to the mathematical patterns and spirals in nature... to the miracle of the present moment, these songs are each a sonic expression of the miraculous, yet universal gifts given to us all.

Follow her new release on spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1bMHgT2mmJcUZahCj0wKqc?si=guXVDqW0TOq1PgKtpbOERw