New York based pianist and composer David Virelles grew up in a musical family in Santiago de Cuba, steeped in the music of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora and Western classical music. Having been invited to Canada by Jane Bunnett in 2001, Virelles relocated to Toronto where he graduated from Humber College, where he eventually taught. During this time Virelles worked extensively across Canada with his own groups and as a sideman. Moving to the United States in 2009, David organically brings together Cuban folkloric and New York improvisational worlds, an interest that started when he was fourteen. While he views his work as “a hundred percent traditional,” drawing from multiple traditions, in practice, he is creating a syncretic new personal music, rather than a mixture of elements or a recreation. Besides his solo work, he has also worked with Henry Threadgill, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake, Bill Frisell, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Paul Motian, Chucho Valdés and Hermeto Pascoal, among others. He has been named #1 Rising Star in the Piano category by DownBeat Magazine and Artist of the Year by Musica Jazz Magazine and a recipient of many international awards. Virelles latest album is Nuna (2022), an exploration of the solo piano setting. It was named one of the best albums of the year by multiple publications, including The New York Times and NPR. Virelles is a guest teacher at JazzCampus and the special program FocusYear in Basel, and is a piano professor at the University of the Arts in Zürich, Switzerland.