Sorin Zlat is a pianist, clarinetist and composer, the winner of many national and international awards, and one of the most representative jazz pianists of the new generation of Romanian artists. He started his performing career at the young age of thirteen when he was featured as a soloist with the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestra “Mihail Jora”. Inspired by his father and grandfather, two accomplished European musicians, Sorin went on to pursue a Master’s Degree in Piano Jazz from which he graduated Summa Cum Laude. As a young graduate, he created a repertoire comprising pieces of standard jazz and personal compositions, ranging through Latin, jazz, pop, and classical music, and which is orchestrated to reflect his unique interpretative style. With musical influences from Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, his imaginative approach gained him instant recognition on the European and North American jazz scene. His portfolio contains over twenty national and international awards, some of which are: Grand Prix at The Great American Piano Competition in Jacksonville USA (2015), Grand Prize and Prize of the Public, Monaco Jazz Competition (2013), Best Solo Performance, Best Band Performance, and the Prize of the Public, International Jazz Competition, Getxo, Spain (2011), two-time winner of the “Best Jazz Musician of the Year” in his home country, and the Citizen of Honor Distinction in 2018.
Invited as headliner at the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Sorin had the chance to share the stage with the Chick Corea Trio, Joey Alexander Trio, Gerald Clayton, and Gregory Porter.
In October 2016, Zlat took his creativity a step further and premiered his jazz suite symphony at the famous Kings Place in London, United Kingdom, a commission that was funded by the Rimbaud and Verlaine foundation and was very well received by the public and jazz critics. With a new CD in the works and numerous projects ranging from jazz funk, collaborations with philharmonic orchestras, and writing music for film, Zlat continues to expand his creative horizons and constantly bring fresh and exciting material to his audience. In 2020, he was honored to join the Yamaha Music company as a Yamaha Artist, a further testament to his talent.
As an artist underwritten by the Romanian Cultural Institute, currently Sorin tours with his trio/quartet in Europe and North America, enjoying numerous concerts in famous clubs, such as Birdland and Smalls in New York, Music Village and Jazz Station in Brussels, Vortex, Pizza Express, London’s Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Kings Place Hall London, Istanbul’s Nardis Club, Montreux Jazz Cafe Club, B-Flat Club in Berlin or attending prestigious festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Izmir Jazz Festival, Brussels Jazz Festival, Pera Fest Istanbul, Getxo International Jazz Festival in Spain, Enter Enea Jazz Festival in Poland, Eunic Jazz Festival Berlin, Monaco Jazz Festival, etc.
In 2018, Romanian pianist Sorin Zlat started working on his new album, The Land of Dreams, which contains original works. The project enjoyed not only a well-deserved success in Romania, Europe and the United States, but also gave rise to a new collaboration which includes New York musicians Ashley Pezzotti on vocals, Gianluca Renzi on double bass, and Colin Stranahan on drums. With styles ranging from cool jazz to post-bop, Latin, flamenco, funk, Romanian folklore, and avant-garde, the proposed project is a testament to the universality of music, with musicians coming from generations and different schools of thought, but unified by the common language of jazz. The Sorin Zlat Trio concert will feature personal compositions from the album Endurance released by Sorin in 2018 and new music from the next album of the pianist
