Birthdays are special. They're a celebration of life and the perfect moment to take stock of who you are, where you are and where you'd like to be. The round numbers are particularly special, because they mark the beginning of a new decade and often a new phase of life in consequence.
I wanted to do something special, something unique for my thirtieth birthday. I'd nurtured the dream of recording a solo album for some time and I thought this was the ideal opportunity. I've been experimenting at the piano since I was a child; as well as performing and interpreting existing works, I like to play with musical building blocks to tell my own stories.
This album is the result of my creative exploits between 2019 and 2022. I'm indebted to and have been inspired by many different periods and styles of Western (keyboard) music. More than anything else though, this is a highly personal collection of piano pieces that pose a real challenge to me as composer and performer. I hope you enjoy listening to them! My grateful thanks go to everyone who supported me in this project your various contributions are very much appreciated.
- FLORESTAN BATAILLIE - The Belgian pianist Florestan Bataillie studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under Boyan Vodenitcharov and Hans Ryckelynck, where he gained his master's diploma. He followed this with three further years of concert training under Jan Michiels. He was awarded the Arnold prize at the conclusion of his conservatory studies.
Florestan and his brother, the violinist Ludovic Bataillie, perform together as the Adelfoi duo. They are also the artistic and business leaders of the Meanderfestival in the Leie Scheldt cultural region.
He formed the Impression piano trio with the sisters Fien and Riet Van den Fonteyne in 2011. The trio has been coached by Dirk Vermeulen, Thomas Dieltjens, Gavriel Lipkind, Alexander Melnikov and Antje Weithaas amongst others. They won the international Storioni competition for ensembles in the Netherlands in 2015, winning not only the first prize but also the audience prize and the prize from the Dutch Omroep Max. They became laureates of the musical non-profit organisation SWUK in 2016, and were subsequently able to record their debut album Gypsy with the Dutch label Aliud that same year. They celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2021 with a recital at Concertgebouw Brugge that was broadcast live on Radio Klara.
