Shai Maestro - The Guesthouse

On 23 April 2026 Shai Maestro appears with The Guesthouse at De Doelen in Rotterdam. The Israeli pianist and composer (b. 1987) entered the international scene in the mid-2000s alongside double bassist Avishai Cohen, with whom he recorded Gently Disturbed and Aurora and toured extensively. He later moved to New York and formed his own trio with Jorge Roeder on bass and Ziv Ravitz, later Ofri Nehemya, on drums. His approach is piano-driven and contemporary: melodic writing, collective improvisation, flowing rhythms and traces of Middle Eastern and classical influences.

With The Dream Thief (2018) and Human (2021) on ECM, Maestro expanded his palette toward the quartet by adding trumpeter Philip Dizack. Under the name The Guesthouse he presents new work and revisitations from his repertoire, with close attention to dynamics, silence and interplay. Live, motifs slide in and out of one another, the rhythms breathe, and the dialogue between the musicians remains central. Whether performing as a trio or quartet, Maestro builds his set around melody and space, with playing that gradually reveals the story of each piece. A snapshot of where his pianistic language stands today, in a hall that permits detail and nuance.