Jorge Mejia's Musical Memoir Featured in Billboard Magazine
"Success for Mejía…has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.” Billboard Magazine talks with Jorge Mejia about bridging worlds, genres, and cultures.
June 29, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talked with Billboard Magazine about An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
"Success for Mejía -- who also has deals with "Despacito" co-writers Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee, and signed Colombian superstar Maluma to a global publishing deal in 2017 -- has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer with a performance degree from the University of Miami who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.
Now, Mejía is further exploring his own talents. In May, he released An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, a book and album of short classical piano pieces with orchestral accompaniment that tell his own story as a bicultural, bilingual artist. The Open Book Latin American Tour, which Mejía narrates and performs, has included performances in Ecuador and Uruguay. Here, Mejía speaks about his music, Fonsi's success and betting on the Latin market."
An Open Book Is 'An Instant Classic'
"An instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work." El Nuevo Herald reviews the sold-out launch concert of Jorge Mejia’s musical memoir.
May 7, 2018
Photo by WorldRedEye.com
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia launched his new musical memoir, An Open Book, at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center, sharing excerpts of his narratives and orchestral piano preludes with the sold-out audience.
El Nuevo Herald calls it "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work."
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
Jorge Mejia Lands on Cover of Músico Pro Magazine
“He delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.” Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talks with the magazine about stories, music, and straddling worlds of genre.
May 2, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia is on the cover of the special 22nd Anniversary edition of Spanish-language Músico Pro Magazine, in a feature titled "A Life Dreaming In Music".
“I sat down with Jorge Mejía in his home, at the foot of a beautiful Steinway, where he generously interlaced original pieces and sections of well-known melodies to better illustrate his responses. It turns out to be a particularly suitable dynamic given the concept of the most recent addition of its repertoire. His most ambitious project as a composer and performer is titled An Open Book: A Musical Memoir, and offers a narrative as a prelude to each instrumental piece, where he delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.”
An Open Book Featured on WLRN's Sundial
Luis Hernandez interviews Jorge Mejia in a segment that also includes a reading and orchestral excerpts from this musical memoir.
May 1, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia joins Luis Hernandez on Sundial on WLRN in Miami to discuss An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
Featuring a taste of An Open Book's innovative musical and narrative blend, Mejia's interview closes out the episode, beginning ~36:42.
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Jorge Mejia's Preludes Played by Simone Dinnerstein in Miami
"A full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back..." Dinnerstein and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra feature Mejia's preludes in their first U.S. tour.
June 23, 2017
““A full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back...””
Hosted by the New World Symphony, excerpts from Jorge Mejia's set of preludes were recently played by pianist Simone Dinnerstein, accompanied by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra in their first U.S. tour. Dinnerstein describes the preludes as “almost a genre of their own. Composed to be performed next to spoken text, they create a wonderful cinematic effect, full of vibrant colors and lush melodies.”
Read reviews and previews:
"To complete the panorama were Four Preludes for Piano by the Colombian Jorge Mejia – a full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back. The composer narrated in Spanish before each prelude, in a trip through childhood and adolescence that portrayed his life experience, with Dinnerstein personifying it at the piano."
El Nuevo Herald
"The brilliant American pianist Simone Dinnerstein was the featured soloist in a program that included two Mozart piano concertos, four delightful sketches by Jorge Mejia, and Aaron Copland... Not since the Vietnam War have I seen our country so divided and discontent and with so little prospect for peace and unity behind our shared American values. But this concert showed me that we can, with good will, kindness and principled compromise, find ways to bridge our divisions and come together. Yes, we are turning, turning, but we will 'come ‘round right.'"
Miami Herald
"Opening the program is a special performance of preludes by composer Jorge Mejia. Each prelude is a piece of the story of Mejia’s life of coming from Colombia to the U.S. The story of his family and his sensitivity will be narrated in Spanish as the orchestra and piano play. 'To have a pianist of Simone Dinnerstein’s caliber and to have an orchestra like this performing the pieces is absolutely exhilarating,' said Mejia."
WLRN
