Herbert Meets: Eric Christian Von Fricken
Eric Christian Von Fricken by Chris Millington
Eric Christian Von Fricken is a Brooklyn based pianist and composer with a deeply romantic musical style influenced by the sounds of Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Satie. Eric’s innate understanding of listeners has led him to grow an engaged and growing Instagram family of almost a quarter of a million fans. I was intrigued to understand more about his ethos, influences and how he cracked the social code.
Herbert Meets: Casual Melancholia
Casual Melancholia by Alexandre Desmidt
When I watched pianist and composer ‘Casual Melancholia,’ play the piano on an Instagram live a couple of weeks ago, there was a studious delicacy to his playing and a charm that was palpable even through the tiny screen. I went straight to Spotify and listened to the first track listed ‘Memory’ (first track of EP ‘Birth’) and was immediately transported. When we spoke, it turned out that the artist, like his playing was charming, studious and a little bit magic.
Herbert Meets: Sergio Díaz De Rojas
Sergio Diaz De Rojas by Laura Vidal-Abarca
In a time where Spotify’s ‘Peaceful Piano’ has become the blue tick verification that contemporary classical artists strive for, I wanted to learn more about how Peruvian-born pianist and composer Sergio Díaz De Rojas felt about the rising popularity around a genre that he has helped grow through his own music, platform ‘Piano and Coffee’ and record label‘ Piano and Coffee Records.’
Herbert meets: Sugar Vendil
Meet Sugar Vendil, NYC-based pianist, multi-disciplinary artist and founder of The Nouveau Classical Project (NCP), a music ensemble that collaborates with visual artists, dancers, and fashion designers.
Herbert has been following Sugar for a while and was curious to find out more about her, her influences, what the inspiration was behind her fusing of fashion and classical music and her upcoming talk at SXSW 2018.
Was there a ‘moment’ when you fell in love with classical music?
Herbert Meets: Blair Coron
Meet Blair Coron, Glasgow-based composer and pianist.
I saw a photo of Blair’s workspace on Instagram and wanted to find out where it was, how Blair put it together and how important it was in Blair’s composition process and for him as an artist.
For a podcast about blackboards, Nils Frahm, his hamster Pippin, the Scottish highlands and his EP DO/RE., listen here.
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Herbert’s ‘One’s To Watch’ | Eunbi Kim
Photo by Shervin Lainez
Who? Eunbi Kim @eunbikimpiano
What? NYC-based composer and pianist.
Why? Eunbi is an advocate for arts innovation and entrepeneurship (She has held a fellowship at the Manhattan School of Music’s Center for Music Entrepreneurship & was one of just 50 artists selected for the New York Foundation for the Arts’s 2012 “Artist as Entrepreneur” program), an expert on Haruki Murakami and his use of music in his novels and also a TEDx speaker.
Herbert’s ‘Ones To Watch’ | Sugar Vendil
Who? Sugar Vendil
What? NYC-based pianist, multi-disciplinary artist and founder of (a badass) all-female contemporary classical group ‘The Nouveau Classical Project’ (below)
The Nouveau Classical Project ‘brings fashion to the forefront of their performances’ by showcasing the designs of up-and-coming fashion designers. Collaborations include Project Runway winner Gretchen Jones, Kempner Collection and Tanya Taylor.
Who? Ilya Beshelvi
What? Russian composer and pianist.
There’s not a lot of info about this guy, but he’s only 25 and he’s pretty good.
He cites Yann Tiersen and Ludovico Einaudi as inspiration. Sometimes, the Einaudi ‘inspiration’ chokes beshelvi’s sound, and some of his output is not the most inspiring, but having said that I am very excited for what he might do and I would say – one to keep a tab on.
Herbert at Home: Seb Carrington
Welcome to the second instalment of herbert @ home. This time I went to visit rising acting star Seb Carrington at his home in Brixton on a September afternoon.
Seb moved to London two years ago to pursue a career in acting and has already bagged his break out role playing Alan Bennett in the second series of Netflix mega hit ‘The Crown”, (December 2017.) If that’s not enough, you can also catch him with Mark Williams in BBC’s ‘Father Brown’ early next year.