Manners McDade’s Composer Federico Albanese Plays Montreux Jazz Festival

Once again, Federico Albanese’s striking performance captured the hearts of the audience as he played at the Montreux Jazz Festival this weekend.

The Italian pianist, whose music is described to be ‘magical’ and ‘hauntingly beautiful’ performed unforgettably as he unfurled his enchanting music amongst the surroundings of Montreux. He describes his music to mirror the ‘moment of day when opposites are so close they almost touch. An undefined world, between light and darkness, where everything is uncertain’.

This is shown within his most recent album, “The Blue Hour” on the Berlin-based Neue Meister label, where he expresses these feelings of ‘uncertainty’ with a minimalist effect and use of broken chords, electronics and synthesisers. He describes these instruments as ‘different colours‘ that ‘reflect the idea of the vague things floating into the blue hour limbo’.

The Montreux Jazz Festival is far more than the name of a unique and distinctive event in the world of music. Since its beginnings in 1967, the festival has developed its activities considerably and the festival now flourishes all year long in the little city of Montreux with the Lake Geneva at its feet.The festival continued growing until the 40th anniversary celebrated in 2006 - by then, it was already routine for more than 220,000 visitors to make their way to Montreux.