Shahin Novrasli
Pianist and composer Shahin Novrasli has had the occasion to play some of the most notorious stages in the world, such as London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Black Sea Jazz Festival, Prague’s Mezinarodni Piano Festival and numerous clubs and festivals throughout the United States. Growing up in Azerbaijan, Shahin’s rare talent emerged from his country’s various compositional influences as well as its unusual and rich musical heritage.

At the age of five, he began his classical studies at Baku’s notorious Bulbul Music School and then at the Hajibeyoy Academy of Music. At only eleven years old, he performed with the local Symphony Orchestra at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall and at eighteen, Shahin played Rachmaninoff’s infamous and arduous “Piano Concerto N°2″ before an ecstatic audience.

Elegantly blending his classical knowledge, Azerbaijan’s traditional folk “Mugham” and his jazz influences, Shahin created his own unique and accomplished musical universe, where he combines eastern and western cultures. A gentle wave of exotic melodies, powerful and sharp harmonies, capricious eastern rhythms struck by an American Jazz lightning, majestic and vigorous. With a solo project, a trio with Ari Hoenig and Nathan Peck, countless collaborations with notably Kenny Wheeler, Iain Ballamy and Tim Garland, to name a few, Shahin is today an icon for Azerbaijan Jazz and has received enthusiastic comments from worldwide critics and audiences.