Marco Mezquida

Spain
“One of those precious concerts that leaves you as a new person.” - El Mundo

“Above all, Marco is a playful and unpredictable artist - a universe to fall into, a stream to which one must surrender.” - Jazzthetik

Artist information

Born in Menorca in 1987, the versatile pianist, improviser and composer MARCO MEZQUIDA is the embodiment of musical passion and is considered one of the most lively figures on the Spanish jazz scene. Terms like "wunderkind", "piano magician", "magnetic", are often used to describe the impressive range of his work.Thus, the pianist MARCO MEZQUIDA, who has won several awards, has already enchanted the world's great jazz festivals and important concert halls such as the Cologne Philharmonic, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona or the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Kulturarena Jena and many more.

He presents himself and his music on stage full of musical joy, peppered with musical experiments, such as the inclusion of the sound of directly struck piano strings, if he is not immediately disappearing into the resonance body of his grand piano, where he uses an infinite number of technical and aesthetic means such as bells, tambourine or drum to elicit unfamiliar sounds from the prepared strings of the instrument in a unique way.

As a multiplier of musical presences, his praised solo piano concerts can be understood as a one-man orchestra. With his spectacular mixture of melodious sounds, vitality, tangos, flamencos and buleras, Marco Mezquida succeeds in making every moment as intense and fresh as possible. Folklore gives his music a special touch of colour, but the heartbeat of each piece is determined by modern jazz with its artistic arcs of tension. He only uses minimal traditional influences, but invents his music himself.

The great composer and top flamenco musician works with extraordinary and unique methods in the instrumentation of his pieces. As an explorer of sounds and creator of atmospheres, he presents in various projects and in cooperation with international flamenco and jazz greats an incomparably versatile spectrum of expression beyond all common genre boundaries. 

"Playing the piano and connecting with the piano is a necessity for me."
Marco Mezquida

 

MARCO MEZQUIDA - TORNADO

MARCO MEZQUIDA has conceived Tornado with - and for - two old and dear friends with whom he shares a long history of music, connection and experiences on the road. The result has been her new music, created from three very expressive and strong musical personalities, with many registers, and at the same time very different from each other. To create it, she has imagined a music of contrasts, with spaces to express herself in visceral moments alternating with spaces of a more introspective and intimate intensity.

MEZQUIDA - CHICUELO

Juan Gomez "Chicuelo" is currently one of the most important and innovative flamenco guitarists in Spain. In collaboration with Marco Mezquida and the percussionist Paco de Mode, he has created an exciting, innovative variation of flamenco jazz, which fuses traditional elements with classical and jazz music in a fiery and differentiated way. The three excellent instrumentalists meet at eye level, without showing off, and interact in relaxed, blind familiarity. This is all about the special connection between two Mediterranean musicians and their irrepressible curiosity and passion for music.
Catchy, but in no way banal or ingratiating, they play chamber music flamenco jazz with emotional richness and the highest level of technical sophistication.

MARCO MEZQUIDA - RAVEL'S DREAMS

Marco Mezquida takes us on a dreamlike journey through the musical and personal imagination of Maurice Ravel - exploring his seductive legacy and the electrifying music that distinguished him - from French classical to romantic virtuosos; from experimenting with popular music to the influence of his contemporaries and the effervescence of jazz. Together with drummer Aleix Tobías and cellist Martín Meléndez, Marco Mezquida offers a personal and unique recreation of the music of the brilliant Ravel. He enriches it with groove, extends it through improvisation and breathes the textures of contemporary music into it.

MARCO MEZQUIDA - BEETHOVEN COLLAGE

With his 250th anniversary homage to the famous German composer, Mezquida enters the musical universe of that of the genius Ludwig van Beethoven and reinterprets it with his unstoppable creativity. A work born of his deep love for the original work, but born from the prism of an improviser and 21st century composer - the result is a contemporary and modern Beethoven collage in which power, subtlety, beauty and humour are very much present. Beethoven's already classical music is organically and suggestively combined with free improvisation, popular rhythms, the world of jazz, Latin American music and flamenco.

MARCO MEZQUIDA - SOLO CONCERT

MARCO MEZQUIDA surprises both with an unexpected homage to the German Romantics and with the most virtuoso passages from the great tradition of jazz piano. In free improvisations, he inspires with enormous bursts of energy and simple, unadorned clarity. As an improviser and composer, his background in classical and contemporary music, popular music, jazz, free, pop and flamenco allows him to combine different styles in a natural way and inspires audiences and critics alike in a unique way.


"My main goal is to take the audience on a journey, to get them to travel!"

At only 31 years of age he has already recorded more than 50 albums and his dizzying concert activity - since 2015 he has been giving an average of 180 concerts per year - has made him perform in the great halls of the world on 4 continents.
The list of artists who have worked with him includes personalities and jazz legends such as Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Carme Canela, Elliot Zigmund and Perico Sambeat.

Having toured the world with the best groups in Spanish jazz and released 18 albums as leader, Mezquida offers a personal and attractive musical journey, consisting mainly of his compositions and improvisations, exploring a whole world of sounds.

Watch Marco Mezquida - Chicuelo @ Kölner Philharmonie on Youtube