Virtuoso Brazilian jazz pianist Henrique Eisenmann returns to Hancock, this time with renowned cellist Eugene Friesen—an expert in the Brazilian choro genre—to delight our audience. NPR says, “Fascinating influences; obviously carrying the Brazilian gene, and interests in poetry, art and dance. What an incredible flare and technique!”
Henrique Eisenmann
New York-based Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann is changing the paradigm of contemporary improvisation, creating an original musical universe that is powerfully inventive, authentic, drawing on the tradition of Classical music, Jazz and folk World Music.
Eisenmann is a current member of the Paul Winter Consort (recipient of 6-Grammy awards), and has performed with prestigious artists such as Steve Reich, Nexus ensemble, Gunther Schuller, The Brubeck Brothers, Luciana Souza, Tom Zé and many others. He has recorded dozens of records; the latest release "Nação" has drawn unanimous praise from critics across the world. Eisenmann is a former faculty at New England Conservatory and current faculty member at the Juilliard School in NYC, teaching creative Improvisation. He often tours the world in collaboration with different artists, poets, dancers, and musicians from all over the globe, having performed in renowned stages in Japan, China, Vietnam, Israel, Europe, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Cuba and others.
Eisenmann is the Artistic Director for Jazz Lab, a creative music program and festival held in Massachusetts; he is often a guest teaching artist at MIT, Brown University, Yale, Manhattan School of Music, UMass, and others, teaching lectures on creativity, improvisation and World Music.
Eugene Friesen
Four-time Grammy Award-winner Eugene Friesen is active internationally as a concert and recording artist, composer, conductor and teacher. Eugene has worked and recorded with such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck, Martin Sexton, Toots Thielemans, Betty Buckley, Dar Williams, Will Ackerman, and Dream Theater.
Eugene's passion for improvised music has been featured in concerts all over the world with the Paul Winter Consort and with Trio Globo (Friesen, Howard Levy and Glen Velez). He appeared on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" playing with Keillor and superstar soprano Renée Fleming and has performed as a soloist at the International Cello Festival in Manchester, England; Rencontres d'Ensembles de Violoncelles in Beauvais, France; the World Cello Congress in Baltimore, Maryland; and the Rio International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro.
Recording credits include five albums of original music, more than 30 CDs with the Paul Winter Consort, and hundreds of tracks featuring his rapturous cello playing on instrumental albums, films, and television scores. Eugene is an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, and on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston.