Pianist and composer Nikolaj Hess has recently performed a series of solo piano concerts, including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, the Getty in Los Angeles, and SMK in Copenhagen — alongside his ongoing international work with his own ensembles and collaborations.

His concerts are marked by presence and deep musical communication, virtuosity, playful creativity and emotional depth — all delivered with a sparkling, golden touch on the grand piano.

For the concert in Christians Kirke, Hess dives into his own award-winning compositions, traditional Danish folk melodies, carefully selected classics in imaginative, personal interpretations, and excerpts and new ideas from his ongoing Impressions of Bob Dylan project — all filtered through his singular sense of melody and improvisation. Within the atmospheric setting of Christians Kirke, this richly varie...

Pianist and composer Nikolaj Hess has recently performed a series of solo piano concerts, including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, the Getty in Los Angeles, and SMK in Copenhagen — alongside his ongoing international work with his own ensembles and collaborations.

His concerts are marked by presence and deep musical communication, virtuosity, playful creativity and emotional depth — all delivered with a sparkling, golden touch on the grand piano.

For the concert in Christians Kirke, Hess dives into his own award-winning compositions, traditional Danish folk melodies, carefully selected classics in imaginative, personal interpretations, and excerpts and new ideas from his ongoing Impressions of Bob Dylan project — all filtered through his singular sense of melody and improvisation. Within the atmospheric setting of Christians Kirke, this richly varied program promises a truly special concert experience, where the intimate connection between artist and audience takes center stage.

Nikolaj Hess is known for his poetic, beautiful piano playing and his rare ability to create magical musical moments. Few pianists navigate the delicate balance between sensitivity and curiosity in the world of jazz quite like Hess. As a soloist, he is free to explore the full dynamic range of the piano — from whispering stillness to exuberant improvisation — all of which the audience will experience up close this evening.

An organic blend of heartbreakingly beautiful melodies, lyrical mood passages, and ambient landscapes with dazzling improvisations, irresistibly addictive mystique, and trance-inducing grooves and swing.


Nikolaj Hess bio:

Multiple award-winning pianist and composer Nikolaj Hess is a sophisticated, boundary-pushing artist with a sound that spans and bridges Global jazz, post bop, new classical, electronica, roots and folklore traditions. His touch on the piano is described as effervescent and gifted with gold dust, and he is called one of the most inventive pianists working today. His deep interest in West-African music combined with his background in jazz, classical and scandinavian folk music has combined in a unique creative amalgam of his own, leading to numerous international collaborations and releases of his own, latest a series of albums based on his artistic research project Transformative Reflections, in the transdisciplinary field of music and visual arts, and a solo concert series at MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum, The Getty Museum, and The Smithsonian. Hess has performed at festivals and high profile venues across the world, and even played with Fela Kuti and Femi Kuti at the legendary "The Shrine" in Lagos.

Hess has released numerous critically lauded albums like 28 million streams album Portraits in Jazz Sunday, Politiken winner album of the year Trio with bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, Hess is More Piano Chronicles from his collaboration with brother Mikkel, and DMA winner 3xHess together with both of his brothers.

Hess has also composed for film, composing for Lars von Trier's Melancholia, Anders Refn's De Forbandede År, and Netflix USA documentary Moutain Queen by Lucy Walker.
In 2021, he brought all of his vast interests together on his expansive and textural genre-melding album Spacelab & Strings, followed by his new-classical concerto for solo violin, string orchestra and bass and drums, and latest the expanded piano trio album Transformative Reflections Red Studio.

Press quotes:
Mitch Myers from Down Beat / Magnet Magazine writes: "Simply put, these guys are the best piano trio in Denmark, and Nikolaj Hess is one of the most inventive jazz pianists working today”

(bebop spoken here UK) “a delightful, reflective, almost pastoral use of light and shade. If Chopin had been born in New York and received tuition from say Bill Evans or Keith Jarrett he may have sounded like this ”

Hess lets the notes fall onto the keys like droplets, as if they carry their own quiet intention — deciding for themselves how slowly and soulfully the song should unfold. (Politiken)
(Peter Quinn Art Desk, London) “Danish pianist Nikolaj Hess careened between heart-melting delicacy and almost Chopinesque virtuosity. Hess is clearly equipped to face the most gargantuan technical demands, but it was the incredible fecundity of his imagination that impressed the most”

(Chr Munch-Hansen Politiken) “Gold dust. Nikolaj Hess’ fingers on the keyboard is an alchemical affair. An album with a wide range of expression, yet spiritually coherent.”

“Bilingual in classical and jazz, Hess moves in both cultures with confidence, so the project is not just jazz-with-strings-tacked-on (or vice versa) but an organic hybrid. Though the strings don’t solo they are used as an autonomous voice, providing chromatically embellished melodies, ‘rubbing’ dissonances (caused by adjacent chord tones), canons, chorales and jousting countermelodies. The leader threads it all together, rippling through the colorful arrangements with a gorgeous feathery effervescent touch, equal parts Murray Perahia and Bill Evans.” (New York City Jazz Record)

Pianist Nikolaj Hess latest release Spacelab & Strings –at Sunnyside Records is the rare album that’s closer to classical music with jazz piano, than piano jazz with classical influences. It’s also poignant, and picturesque, and one of the most individualistically interesting albums of recent months... (New York Music Daily)

Allmusic Matt Collar: With 2021's subtly innovative Spacelab & Strings, Danish pianist Nikolaj Hess deftly pushes the boundaries of his sophisticated jazz and classical sound. A nuanced improviser with deep classical chops, Hess has earned plaudits for his textural, harmonically rich approach to modern post-bop jazz. He's also moved outside of jazz, supplying the score for indie films like Lars von Trier's's acclaimed Melancholia.......

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