Uri Caine had been art director at the Music Biennale exactly twenty years ago, in what was the festival’s forty-seventh edition. We know him as the one who ferried the Biennale onto the land of experimentation, a feature that we came to associate with the Biennale since. The relationship between composition and improvisation is at the centre of the programme both at Biennale and for Caine himself, something we can see today as deeply routed in the Philadelphia-born pianist’s career, who studied piano with Bernard Peiffer and composition with George Rochberg. Caine certainly enjoys a privileged relationship with Venice, as proved by the many shows he held in town over twenty years. Pure, crystal-clear improvisation supported by fresh, real talent and insatiable curiosity. On June 10, at San Giorgio Island, he will perform in a show of classical, jazz, and improv: music will pour out with no fractures nor borders, a continuous conversation between Beethoven, Thelonious Monk, Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner, George Gershwin, swing, Giuseppe Verdi, the Beatles.

Change! Is the name of the show, the song, and the album that Uri Caine wrote to celebrate American civil right activist Octavius Catto (1839—1871). The song for orchestra, gospel choir, solo, and piano was known in 2014 as The Passion of Octavius Catto commemorates Catto, who was killed on election day, 1872, on his way to the poll. Uri Caine moved to New York in 1985 and recorded 36 albums as lead artist. His latest works include Space Kiss with Lutoslawski Quartet, Calibrated Thickness and Catbird with his piano trio, and Callithump for piano solo. He also recorded, together with his ensemble, arrangements of Mahler, Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, Schumann, and Bach. More recent compositions are Agent Orange, a commissioned work for the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, and 4 Wunderhorn Songs, written for the Basel Chamber Orchestra, among others. The musician has also been offered a three-year residency at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and produced his version of the Variazioni Diabelli with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Bologna Theatre Orchestra, the Verdi Orchestra, and the Toscanini Orchestra. We are looking forward to a June 10 concert that will be much more than a concert, with a musician who is so much more than a musician.