David Virelles

David Virelles is a Cuban pianist and composer whose music reframes Afro-Cuban folkloric and ritual traditions through the language of contemporary jazz. Born in 1983 in Santiago de Cuba into a musical family, he began studying classical piano at age seven, moved to Canada in 2001, and settled in New York in 2009, where he studied composition with Henry Threadgill and worked with leaders including Steve Coleman and Chris Potter. His 2012 album Continuum, on Pi Recordings, marked his emergence, and he went on to record a series of acclaimed albums for ECM, beginning with Mboko in 2014. His 2022 solo-piano record NUNA was named among the year's best by The New York Times and NPR.