david virelles

David Virelles is a pianist, composer, and scholar whose work emerges from deep engagement with tradition. Raised in a musical family in Santiago de Cuba, he was immersed from an early age in Afro Caribbean musical lineages alongside Western classical training. In 2001, he was invited to Canada by Jane Bunnett, relocating first to Toronto and later to New York City, where he became an integral voice in the city’s creative music community.

Although Virelles often describes his work as “one hundred percent traditional,” his music resists categorization. Rather than fusing styles, he draws from multiple historical lineages to form a highly personal and syncretic language, one shaped by continuity, research, and lived experience. This artistic vision was showcased in ORO, his interdisciplinary work commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered there in 2024.

Virelles has collaborated with an extraordinary range of artists across generations, including Henry Threadgill, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Ravi Coltrane, Oliver Lake, Milford Graves, Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Chucho Valdés, Hermeto Pascoal, Terri Lyne Carrington and José Luis Quintana “Changuito,” among many others.

His recorded output reflects a wide artistic scope. His debut album Continuum (2012) was named the #1 album of the year by The New York Times. He has released three critically acclaimed recordings on ECM Records (Mbóko, Antenna, and Gnosis) each documenting distinct compositional and sonic inquiries. His ongoing series The Singer’s Grove honors the musical history of Santiago de Cuba; Volumes I and II were recorded at the Siboney EGREM studios with local masters and named Best Latin Jazz Album by NPR in 2018. 

Recent releases include Transformación del Arcoiris (Pi Recordings), NUNA (a solo piano work awarded the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Award) and Carta (Intakt Records). His latest release, The Singer’s Grove, Vol. III, continues his exploration of archival Cuban material alongside original compositions for piano and synthesizers, recored to wax cylinders. Virelles is a Steinway Artist and a Guggenheim Fellow.