About the composers and their pieces:
Several composers took part composing for our Piano Day project. Here you can read little BIOs about them:
Mark Braun
Mark Braun (*2003) is a german musician and hobby composer. Most of his musical knowledge he acquired through self-education, focussing on orchestral composition and orchestration. In his compositions, he aims to make the most of each instruments capabilities in order to create a distinguished, yet not overly complex piece of music. To him, the emotional content of music is more important than its technical perfection, which also reflects in the relative simplicity ofhis pieces. In 2021, he joined the internationally active Young Composer’s Community, to which he owes the professional recording of is recent piece for solo piano, “Phantasm N°1”, written for World Piano Day.
“For my Piano Day piece, I focused on delivering a certain mysterious mood with my music.
I already had this particular theme in mind a few days before the Piano Day project was announced. So I tried to construct a piece around that part, which would continue its odd character.
This was my first time participating in the Piano Day, and I especially enjoyed it within the YCC: it was cool to see everybody composing under the same conditions, and yet creating such individual distinctive music.” ~ Mark Braun
Andrew Fort
Andrew Fort (*2003) is an American composer, artist, and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Arizona. He is absolutely, certainly, 100% a human. He will be graduating from high school in 2021 and going on to study music composition in college. His music, primarily piano solo or orchestral concert works, are inspired by the textures and harmonies of French Impressionism and American jazz, but with a very distinct, personal voice. His unique piano miniature, “Picture-Frame”, written for World Piano Day, is his first piece to be professionally recorded, and he is honored to have it performed by fellow composer and pianist Mark Piasecki, who interprets the music wonderfully.
“I’m so excited to be part of this Piano Day project! I’ve loved listening to the pieces of my fellow composers and hearing my own music come to life under the practiced, intelligent fingers of experienced musicians. My process when it comes to music is always dependent upon improvisation, which means my ideas are scattered throughout various devices in short or long recordings, which can be confusing to sift through when searching for old ideas! Picture-Frame is one of my jazzier, more mischievous pieces, inspired by the augmented chord and Ravellian harmonic movement and ending with a wispy resolution.” ~ Andrew Fort
Garret Brown
Garrett Brown (*2002) is a Canadian guitarist and composer from the small town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan. Melodious and lyrical, Brown’s sound combines thecolours and timbres of the symphony orchestra with the rhythms and power of classic rock and modern music. Composers such as Mahler, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Kalinnikov have influenced his work. He plays acoustic and electric guitar and composes for orchestra. He has also writtensmall works for string quintet and solo piano. Brown’s musical journey began when he first learned guitar in sixth grade. In eleventh grade, he joined the rock band Rebel Without A Cause as a lead guitarist. The band performed their song ‘Forever’ in 2019 ata local variety night. Theperformance was a success met with great enthusiasm.
He is also a member of the Young Composers Community based in Munich, Germany. His short piano piece ‘The Town Square in Winter’, written for World Piano Day in 2021 was performed by Karl Lippert. The composition features dramatic contrast between strict and peaceful themes in opposing key signatures.In addition to his live music, Brown has written numerous symphonic overtures. He is currently working on opera pieces, covers of popular rock songs, and fully orchestrating sketches for a symphony. With numerous live performances and releases in the future, Brown’s music is taking offand sounding better than ever before.
“My solo piano composition ‘The Town Square in Winter’ performed by Karl Lippert has a fascinating backstory. The piece is composed of two sections or ideas. After a mysterious intro with a continuous pedal, the first section occurs. The first idea in C Minor is a waltz-like theme taken from an adagio I scrapped a few months ago.
The second idea in A Major came from an Eb Minor Piano Trio, which I also scrapped. The second theme features gentle arpeggios in the left hand, which are reminiscent of a harp. The piece concludes with a restatement of the first theme with subtle variations. It is interesting to note that the two ideas are in opposite keys on the musical Circle of Fifths. Opposites were definitely in mind when I wrote this piano piece. The title was the last thing added to the composition.
The primary waltz theme reminded me of a winter street, while the secondary andante theme reminded me of a warm cafe on a snow day. I typically avoid sharing the programs and inspirations for my work because I like people to form their interpretations. In this case, I think it is ideal that a listener understands my thoughts when I composed this music. Piano Day was a challenging task since I focus on orchestral and rock genres, not solo piano. I have never taken formal piano training, but I know a couple of songs. I can improvise well enough that people think I know what I am doing.
Regarding my Piano Day composition, I can play the primary theme, but not the secondary one. Fortunately, Karl Lippert was able to play the entire piece. As a composer, I encourage my performers to improve the music, and Karl’s interpretation added beauty and power to the composition. I hope you enjoy listening to my composition as much as I enjoyed creating it!”~ Garret Brown
Karl Lippert
Karl has always been very musical. He started playing the piano at the age of 6. He has won prizes in multiple national and international piano competitions since. At 12 years of age, his father bought him Logic Pro X. After years of hard work and fun, he is finally releasing his first song on Swerve.cc: “Lollygag” and his first full piano piece “Stellar” on YCC’s “Piano Day” Project.
For this piano piece he drew inspiration from the movie “Passengers”. He started in front of the piano, playing with the motive in the left hand, and just improvised in the right, when he felt the emotion the piece portrayed, making him determined to finish it. Karl participated in this project by composing, but also performing the Piano Day pieces. He enjoyed performing his own, and Garett Brown’s piece. He very much appreciated the contact with likeminded composers through this project. In his opinion, the YCC is a great place for creative persons to flourish, as there is little pressure, a friendly environment and a lot of opportunity for collaboration.
Adrian Cipriani
Adrian Cipriani (*2004) is a young artist based in Munich, Germany focusing on composing, film and painting. He is the founder, along with friends Nicolas Jacoby and Lennart Kling, of the international Young Composers’ Community (YCC Intl.) established in 2020.
So far, he wrote orchestral music, pieces for solo piano, music for film and his school’s theater and pieces where everything goes together. His style evolves from influences of romantic, impressionist and minimalist composers. He likes using new technologies. Experiments with thrilling synthesizers including his own creations blend with his other work. Being a sampling enthusiast, he more and more uses self-made samples and acoustic instruments which he sometimes processes to acquire a more unique sound. For and with the YCC, especially with Nicolas he is currently creating virtual instruments like organ and piano textures. Since 2021 analogue hardware synthesizers form a basis of his tool collection.
He is responsible for the production of the Short Piano Pieces Album (2021) (recordings from the World Piano Day) in Munich for various streaming outlets. He has a special interest in the technical aspects and details of the recording and production work. Current projects include the commissioned composition “VIVAMUS VIVERE” through the YCC for the Leonhardi Choir (Munich) and a new international collaboration project with the YCC.
JUST!JOSH
JUST!JOSH (real name Josh Rowe) is a 18 year old musician, songwriter, composer and Author originally from Swindon, England currently studying a BA Honours music degree at University. He has played piano and keyboard since the age of 11 and saxophone since the age of 12 and has been composing music since he started. In addition he has started to release his own music into the public domain using both streaming and download services.
During the Conoravirus lockdown of 2020, he started learning to become a songwriter. As of February 2020, he has gained his first official songwriting credits, with more in the works. During his first semester at university, and over the Christmas period of 2020, he began learning Ukulele and Guitar respectively, mostly to help him with his songwriting, and improve his adaptability when creating music. Outside of music, Josh loves to play football and Tennis. He had previously played for Swindon Town Pre-Academy and competed at the Gothia Cup (World Youth Cup) twice. He currently plays Tennis for his university men’s 2nd team. For YCC’s World Piano Day Pieces he composed the piece “Finding Freedom” wich was played by Nicolas Jacoby.
Nicolas Jacoby
Nicolas Jacoby (*2003) is a young musician from Germany who has composed his first piece at the age of ten. Since then he’s been composing pieces for piano, choir, orchestra, organ or big band. With 15 years he made his first experience in film music, composing for the movie “SOMNIUM” he made together with Adrian Cipriani in 2019. In partnership with Lennart Kling he is part of the composer duo Victonika that has released its first album “Earl” in 2020 is expected to release its second album in 2022. Since May 2020, Nicolas Jacoby is a member of the international Young Composers’ Community, for whose album Short Piano Pieces (2021) he had written and recorded his “Bagatelle en a-Mixolydien” on World Piano Day.
“So that there is some more variety to our Piano Day Album I wanted to add something special to my piece. I decided to write my piece in a very special key, namely in Mixolydian. The mixolydian scale is basically very similar to any major scale – with just the difference that the seventh tone is flatted so that the leading tone is missing. My piece, the ‘Bagatelle en a-Mixolydien’ is always playing with this speciality.” ~ Nicolas Jacoby
Pepe Jara Mas
My name is Jose Antonio Jara Más. I was born in Murcia, Spain, in 1998. I started playing guitar at seven years old and since then I’ve been composing in different styles. When I was 16 I finally started composing for orchestra. At this point I realised I had to study the greatest composers in order to develop myself so I went to IMSPL and I devoured every single manuscript from Bach to Mozart and Beethoven mainly. I composed for piano solo, string quartet, orchestra, winds, guitar… But no one seemed to be interested and I didn’t feel supported by my family so I made some research and I found a great Community: the YCC. Young Composers just like me, just trying to show the world what their feelings may sound like. My piece “What a Journey”, written for World Piano Day was performed by Lennart Kling.
So now I’m finishing my first symphony which is taking a while because music doesn’t pay my rent. But still music is my life and my life is just like music so whatever the hell I may end up doing it will be written in a score one day for sure.
“This piece was written for the Piano Day project. I chose the name “What a Journey” because that’s how it felt when I was listening to it in my head, before writing it on paper. It has been quite a journey with music. Not easy, but great for sure. When the YCC suggested writing a 1 minute piano piece I thought it was going to be difficult, because I usually compose longer pieces so I realised it had to be emotion, no transitions, no modulation, no key changes, no development, just a flashback, a feeling. I was sure about this idea, and it’s just what it is… Memories.” ~ Pepe Jara Mas
Bernie Walasavage
Bernie Walasavage (*1989) is a composer and artist based in Philadelphia, PA by way of the
Midwest. He received music degrees from Mansfield University of PA (B.M., 2012) and Western
Michigan University (M.M., 2015). Bernie’s music is texturally inspired with consideration for
motion and form: achieving sonic textures which suspend in time, mold into cacophony, break
down into nothingness, or music which moves, bends, and sways. From these broad
descriptors, Walasavage works broadly whether for the concert hall or scoring for film & other
media. Bernie has won international awards from The Indie Gathering (2020) and
Paracademia’s AddAMovie Film Festival in NYC (2019) for his rescoring of classic and silent
film.
He has worked with ensembles such as Duo Artina (Croatia) Quartetto Indaco (Italy) the
Aero Brass (Ohio) Quartet Metadata (NYC) cellist Jordan Hamilton (Michigan) saxophonist Joe
Murphy and his studio (Pennsylvania) and the Boston New Music Initiative. Upcoming projects
include the release of his second album “ETUDES” (2022), scoring a documentary film currently
by Reverie Production Co. (Lancaster, PA; pre-production), and his continued partnership with
the German-based international Young Composers’ Community, connecting diverse, emerging
artists with resources and opportunity such as this publication Short Piano Pieces (2021).
Bernie’s contribution for this year’s World Piano Day is his eclectic 7th piano étude subtitled Ungeschickt, or Clumsy, originally premiered by Munich-based Russian pianist Mark Piasecki.
“My piece for the Piano Day album is the seventh piano etude I have written,
entitled Ungeschickt, a German word for “clumsy, awkward, clownish.” Part of a larger set of
etudes, each one is a character piece, a mini vignette. Therefore my Etude no. 7, premiered by
Munich-based pianist and composer Mark Piasecki and produced by YCC Founder Adrian
Cipriani, is a snapshot of a larger work, but one adding to the diverse and intriguing number of
works by YCC composers in the release of our 2021 album Short Piano Pieces.
This album is part of a post-pandemic commemoration to the first year of operations as the Young
Composers’ Community, founded in 2020 during the lockdown stage of the COVID-19
Pandemic. It is a great tribute to the spirit of international unity in a time of crisis. The group
consists of over 25 members from 10 countries and continues to grow rapidly. I’m blessed and
honored to take part in the YCC’s collaborative efforts, providing resources, connections, and
meaningful friendships to young artists at the start of their careers all over the globe.” ~ Bernie Walasavage
That’s it for this year’s World Piano Day. See you all next year!