To music lovers and critics in Brazil, André Mehmari is a musical wonder and a source of national pride. To the ear, imagine a meeting of Mozart and Keith Jarrett in Brazil: Mozart for the intensity of his creation, Jarrett for his relationship to improvisation at the modern piano. His standards, however, are the compositions that comprise what he calls “The Great Brazilian Songbook,” works written at the same time that the Great American Songbook was created, and equally rich in lyricism and sublimity.
Born in 1977 in the municipality of Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Mehmari began to study music with his mother at the age of five and completed an organ course in the Conservatory of Ribeirao Preto. At age ten, having taught himself jazz improvisation, he wrote his first compositions; and, at 15, while teaching organ in the Conservatory, he was invited to compose a method for keyboard beginners. Mehmari has recorded more than 50 albums solo and with his trio, including: As Estações na Cantareira (2015); Na Esquina do Clube o Sol na Cabeça (2019), Noël: Estrela da Manhã (2020); and Música para Cordas (2019). During the pandemic he did a pair of online performances with singer Mônica Salmaso: the first, entitled Quarentena (Quarantine), included a song composed by Milton Nascimento, Morro Velho; and Milton, dedicated to Nascimento’s songbook.
All of the world’s songbooks and literature are his realm, a borderless inspiration expressed in his compositions and improvisations. The latter takes special form in his solo piano performances where he invites the audience to give him suggestions which, in the moment, he spins into an improvised suite. He invites you to come to the concert with the music you love and offer it for the creation of these one-time-only but forever memorable creations. Come hear one of the greatest musical minds of our time.
