Bruno Heinen

Event information

Bruno Heinen

Bruno Heinen is a London based contemporary pianist, composer and bandleader. His recent endeavours include collaborations with Julian Siegel, Martin Speake, Byron Wallen and Christian Brewer. Bruno studied classical piano at the Royal College of music with the then head of keyboard Andrew Ball and then went on to win prizes from the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Countess of Munster Trust to take his Jazz masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied under John Taylor. Bruno was asked to stay on at the Guildhall as a Junior Fellow where he completed a Masters of Musical Performance. Bruno now teaches Jazz harmony to the classical piano students at the Guildhall every year as well as leading small bands made up of Jazz Undergraduates.

As a composer, Bruno has written for groups ranging from sextet to two piano’s and percussion, and from big band to classical string trio. In 2009, Bruno was nominated for the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Composers Award as well as the British Composers Award.

In 2005, Bruno and bassist Andrea Di Biase formed Dialogues Trio with drummer Jon Scott. The trio plays original music written by Bruno and Andrea. In recent years they have toured in Italy as well as playing in clubs in and around London. They are in the process of recording their debut album, Twinkle Twinkle.

In 2008 Bruno arranged Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ‘Tierkreis’ for Jazz sextet. The piece was originally written for twelve music boxes, one for each sign of the zodiac. Four of the original music boxes have been in Bruno’s family since he was born which started the fascination with the piece. Incorporating the boxes in the performance, Bruno premiered the arrangement at the Vortex Jazz Club. In 2010 Bruno re-arranged the piece for cello, double bass and piano for a performance with cellist Ulrich Heinen at the CBSO centre in Birmingham as part of the CBSO chamber music series.

Bruno also has a longstanding duo with world renowned Palestinian Singer Reem Kelani, playing traditional Palestinian, Egyptian and Persian music. In recent years they have toured in Syria, Spain, Turkey, Dubai and Scotland, as well as performing live on radio broadcasts.