Tech Entrepreneur turned Concert Pianist Brings Classical Improvisation to Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Concert pianist and Young Steinway Artist George Ko brings a new type of classical music to the traditional stage of Zipper Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles on October 8th, 2021. The LA-based artist uses his classical virtuosity, love of anime and film music, and nostalgia for his Jazz and Hip-hop records to create an improvised setlist of originals and covers. Each piece is composed spontaneously on-stage and follows a musical structure closer to Chopin than Coltrane.
When asked why George plays this way, he says, "Improvisation used to be a big part of being a Classical pianist. However, it's a craft lost to time and only a few still do it. I'm trying to bring it back in my way, as a fan of Mozart, but also Pixar and Star Wars films." Not just simply playing chord changes, George tries to incorporate all the intricacies of Classical music in his improvisations, including inner voices, theme and variation, motivic development, and more.
George is a Harvard graduate and received the David McCord Prize in Creativity for music during his tenure. However, he wasn't always in the arts. At Harvard, George was also the first resident of the Harvard Innovation Lab at Harvard Business School. After running several ventures, an AAPI+ media company, and receiving a CES Innovation Award in Robotics with his brother, Ted Ko, he has found his way back to music both on stage and in film. George has composed and played piano scores for Lifetime's recent Salt-N-Pepa biopic, several movies on Netflix, and has released an album, 3 EP's, and four singles in a little over a year. George has also given inaugural concerts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Carnegie Hall, and TEDx. Currently, George has over 60,000 streams on Spotify.
George also became a viral musician on the new social network app Clubhouse in early 2021, where he hosted his Evening Piano Room and garnered an audience in the thousands.
George drops his single "Pure Imagination", an improvisatory interpretation of Gene Wilder's performance in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, on September 17th, 2021 in anticipation of the recital.
The concert at Zipper Hall on October 8th will feature music from his newest EP, Forest on the Moon, dropping October 1st, 2021. The Imagination Tour will continue to Orange County, New York, and two residences in North Adams, Massachusetts, and Fleinvaer, Norway.
You can find George on his website, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. For tickets to the concert, please visit Eventbrite.
For more information, promo requests, or to arrange an interview, contact George's team at
[email protected]. For more info on the event, please visit www.georgeko.co.
Photos by Anna Webber. Styled by Maison Kitsuné.
SOURCE George Ko
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