Hiromi & Metropole Orkest

On 10 September 2026 the Japanese pianist and composer Hiromi will land at SPOT/De Oosterpoort in Groningen, together with the Metropole Orkest. From Hamamatsu to Berklee and through an early encounter with Chick Corea, she has developed her own idiom in which jazz, classical music and fusion converge in tight rhythms and melodic hooks. Her trajectory ranges from trios and solo records like Place to Be and Spectrum to the electric Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, always driven by her piano and keyboard playing, with a keen sense of form and drive.

The meeting with the Metropole Orkest reveals the orchestral side of her work. After Silver Lining Suite for piano and string quartet and her music for the animated film Blue Giant, Hiromi seeks a dialogue with a large ensemble: lines she normally outlines with bass and drums gain color through strings and winds; themes intersect with tight, propulsive grooves, and open passages leave room for improvisation. It becomes a program that shifts between chamber-music clarity and pulsating energy, with the piano at the center and the orchestra as an extension of her ideas.