Solo Piano Series: Eve Risser

Contemporary experimental pianist Eve Risserwill be performing against the colourful backdrops of Renoir, Yeats and Le Brocquy paintings in the The Hugh Lane Gallery as part of the Sunday at Noon sessions, as well as a performance in Triskel Christchurch in Cork as part of the Steinway Series on October 7th.

“She generates sounds that are alternately percussive, droning, ringing, buzzing and tuneful: Symphonies of colour and texture that flow with an inexorable compositional logic.”-Downbeat

French pianist Eve Risser has amassed a considerable and diverse output over the past 8 years, noted for her highly individual style, her expansive influences and her boundary pushing approach to the instrument.

Risser is adept in multiple settings, be it as arranger for large ensembles or orchestration for big bands such as her highly acclaimed White Desert Orchestra; she has also made a name for herself in more intimate settings such as her solo and duo piano work. Risser rose to prominence at the 2010 edition of Improvised Music Company’s 12 Points Festival with her piano & drum duo Donkey Monkey. There was a playfulness, unpredictability and wry inventiveness in their repertoire which made them the favourites of the 2010 edition of the festival. Her strong sonic voice, her willingness to subvert jazz convention coupled with her exceptional use of extended piano techniques showcases her singular imaging of the instrument (listen here).

Risser has her musical roots in chamber music as a flutist and pianist, turning her interest towards the jazz and contemporary music world in her late teens. By 2008 she won 1st Piano Prize in Jazz & Improvised Music at National Conservatory in Paris and a soloist prize at the International Competition of La Défense. In 2009 Eve earned herself a place in the National Jazz Orchestra of France (ONG) directed by Danie Yvinec. In addition to White Desert and Donkey Monkey she is a member of The New Songs Quartet and the trio EN-CORPS and has played and collaborated with musical heavyweights such as John Hollenbeck, Billy Hart, Benoît Delbecq, Jon Irabagon, Mickael Formanek, Médéric Collignon and more.

In typical ‘volte-face’ style Risser has returned to solo piano on the back of her highly regarded White Desert Orchestra’s European tour in 2015. She recently collaborated with another 12 Points pianist, and solo piano series performer, Kaja Draksler at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival in July.

Currently Eve's musical life is based out of Paris where she is involved in organising creative music live performances and working with Swedish label UMLAUT.

Having released her debut solo album last year entitled Des Pas Sur La Neige (Footprints in the Snow) on Lisbon’s Clean Feed records, this latest iteration of Risser’s output showcases her adept use of prepared piano techniques and fearless improvisational approach which creates an aural landscape described by the Wire as an ‘endless source of sonic possibility’ and, ‘quiet and complex, elegant but tense,’ by the New York Times. A sonic adventure into this French pianists world awaits.

“Restlessly inventive and remarkably resourceful, Risser has vaulted high up in the list of interesting pianists in one swift leap with this fascinating and exceedingly beautiful album.”-The Wire