The career of the Catalan pianist Josep-Maria Balanyà, born in Barcelona, with 28 CD recorded and more than 150 works, has taken him from the classical music and jazz until his specialisation into the field of improvisation and the new contemporary, experimental music and performance. Internationally recognised, Balanyà is also composer, conductor of improvising orchestras, sound artist, painter and photographer.
He studied in Barcelona and Switzerland (Swiss Jazz School and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Bern), he attended composition workshops, led by Helmut Lachenmann, Walter Zimmermann and Ivan Fedele, and improvisation workshops by Borah Bergman in New York.
He has played with first-rate musicians including Claudio Pontiggia, Hans Koch, Joachim Kühn, Franz Hautzinger, Carlos Zingaro, Michiel Borstlap, Walter Quintus, Ksenija Lukic, Hannah Marshall, Hannah Ma (dance), Das Neue Ensemble Hannover, Americo Rodrigues, Ramón López, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders, Mimi Barthélemy among others.
Balanyà has played in festivals and radio programs in many countries in Europe and America. He has received several grants in Germany and Switzerland. He is currently based in Barcelona and Brussels.
He has developed his most imaginative actions at the boundary between music and performance, such as a recital in complete darkness at the Sendesaal of Bremen or the concert for the bells of Trier’s cathedral (Germany).
The concerts by Balanyà are powerful rituals – it could be said that he plays the piano with his whole body – during which we can perceive the presence of music change into matter.
www.balanya.net
