Cornelius Claudio Kreusch
Biography Cornelius Claudio Kreusch
Cornelius Claudio Kreusch
Jazz pianist and composer Cornelius Claudio Kreusch has worked with Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin, Salif Keïta, Kenny Garrett, Bobby Watson, Greg Osby, Will Calhoun, Anthony Cox, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, James Genus, and many other prominent jazz musicians. Originally classically trained by students of Francis Poulenc and Vladimir Horowitz, he studied closely with Charles Mingus' legendary pianist Jaki Byard, among others, and graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music (B.M.), Boston, and the Manhattan School of Music (M.M.), New York City. He received the Berklee Performance Award in 1993 and 1994, as well as the President's Award from the Manhattan School of Music in 1995 and 1996. The pianist was a finalist in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, a winner in the International Songwriting Competition in the Jazz category, and performs worldwide, from the Montreux Jazz Festival to the Blue Note in New York. He has also played in classical concert series and toured extensively, from India to Cuba to Saudi Arabia. Twenty-four CDs under his own name, including the successful albums "BlackMudSound" (ENJA), "Scoop" (ACT), "Live! At Steinway Hall / New York" (BMG), "Life is Beautiful" (MJM), and "Heart & Soul" (GLM), along with numerous awards and critical acclaim, attest to his remarkable creative output. His latest solo album is the highly praised double CD "ZAUBERBERG - A musical Hommage to Thomas Mann" (GLM). The Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation once described him as follows: "This frenzied musical alchemist, this obsessive quick thinker, this eruptive sound manufacturer robs you of your senses and half your sanity: all you can do is tip your hat and surrender. Kreusch drags all the piano titans of the century, whether they are called Tatum or Solal, Horowitz, Gould, Kühn, Hancock or Jarrett, into the whirlwind of his daredevil virtuosity and, with a few old standards in mind, embarks on a daring keyboard rally of constant metamorphoses, into the tremendous chain reaction of his sparkling, incredibly creative imagination."
