Pianist and composer Robert Fleitz curates artistic experiences that surprise as often as dazzle. He made his debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in October 2021. Known as an “innovative musical thinker”, recent honours include the First Prize in the 2022 John Cage Award in Halberstadt, 2021 Pro Musicis International Award, the Latvian Music Academy Young Artist of the Year Award, the André Boucourechliev Prize in the 2020 International Piano Competition of Orléans. His second album, The Silent Voice, will be released on the Latvian record label SKANI in 2024 and includes new works by notable living composers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Fleitz’s music has been described as “dreamy, flowing,” and having a “surreal glow”. His music often explores processes of organic and forced decay, the spirituality of technology, and queer theory. Notable commissions and performances include the Metropolis Ensemble (NYC), Jumblies Theatre Company (Toronto), Off-Broadway dance theatre piece Babel (NYC), the Druskomanija Festival (Lithuania), Kompass Ensemble (Germany), Festival Osmose (Belgium), Hilary Easton Dance Company (NYC), and Juventas New Music Ensemble (Boston). Transdisciplinary collaboration is an essential part of his creative practice, recent collaborations including music-theatre performances with Matilda Seppälä, Stephen Webb, and Julie Zhu.
He is the co-founder of the Swan City Piano Festival in his hometown of Lakeland, Florida, and also works as a content creator for Tonebase Piano’s YouTube page. Robert began piano lessons with his father at age 4, and studied at The Juilliard School (BM, MM) and the Latvian Academy of Music. He has studied composition with Eric Wubbels, Jānis Petraškevičs, and Simon Frisch. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. He speaks English, Latvian, Spanish, Portuguese, and is slowly learning Finnish.
Three works
Upgrade (2019)
for toy organ, voice and electronics (one performer)
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Are you even a human? (2021)
for piano trio
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Cheap Trills (2021)
for harpsichord
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Kuva: Jānis Berziņš