On 2 December, Xavi Torres will be presenting em>A Kind of ‎Beethoven at L’Auditori de Barcelona as part of the concert hall’s Sessions, ‎in collaboration with the Barcelona Jazz Festival. The project, which had to be ‎postponed due to the pandemic, can now finally be brought to fruition at L’Auditori. ‎‎In the concert, the Tarragona musician will revisit a masterpiece of musical ‎literature, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, in a work commissioned by ‎L’Auditori to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. In a jazz rendering ‎by a trio, it offers a new insight into some of the Bonn composer’s ‎sonatas.‎

With a deep respect for the original sonatas, Torres transports Beethoven’s music to his own ‎personal musical domain, explaining it with the rhythmic exuberance, rich timbre and textural ‎profundity that characterises his music. Thisjourney of discovery into some of the ‎German maestro’s best-known sonatas is strongly marked by Torres’ own personal ‎vision of them, and all the possibilities of sound are explored, from improvisation to rhythms ‎and new textures, always with a respect for the original works. The project, which ‎has already been presented in France and Holland, has received high public and critical ‎acclaim.‎

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For this project, Xavi Torres will be accompanied by Joris Roelofs. A musician ‎considered to be one of the world’s finest bass clarinet players , he has played with ‎Brad Mehldau and Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others. The third member is ‎‎drummer Joan Terol, with whom Torres has played for over 10 years, ‎hence their superb rapport.‎

‎Xavi Torres is one of the top musicians on the Spanish jazz scene. The ‎composer and pianist trained in classical music and jazz at the Escola Superior de Música de ‎Catalunya and the Amsterdam Conservatory, achieving a command over the piano and ‎musical scope that have singled him out at competitions such as the Keep An Eye ‎International Jazz Award and the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.‎