Sorin Zlat

Sorin Zlat is a jazz pianist and composer from București, Romania. He comes from a musical family: his grandfather is a violinist and conductor who performs for many years with the Romanian National Folkloric Ensemble, and his father is a professional jazz saxophonist. He begins his musical studies at the age of seven, starting with violin and clarinet.

Education and early development

As a teenager, Zlat wins the National Music Olympics and later appears as a soloist with the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestra “Mihail Jora”. He studies at the “George Enescu” University of Arts, graduating in 2009 with a degree in classical clarinet. During those university years he starts exploring jazz, first as an autodidact. His influences include Dizzy Gillespie, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson and Chick Corea. He later earns a Master in Music degree in 2011 from the Romanian National University of Music, in the Piano Jazz section.

Style and repertoire

Zlat’s music combines jazz with Latin, pop and classical elements. He is known for reworking jazz standards and composing original pieces. He also describes the piano as the instrument through which he expresses his ideas as a composer and orchestrator. His recording work includes material shaped by Latin, flamenco and classical influences alongside jazz.

Career, awards and performances

He begins to receive wider recognition while still a student, winning the Grand Prize at the International Student Jazz Competition in Târgu Mureș in 2009 and the Grand Prize at the International Jazz Competition in Sibiu in 2010. From 2011 onwards he collects further competition awards, including first prizes and jury prizes in Bucharest, Getxo, Hoeillart, Monaco, Lille, Vilnius, Jacksonville and Montreux. He is named Best Jazz Musician of the Year in Bucharest in 2014 and 2015, and he is nominated in 2015 for the “Public Diplomacy” award in Romania.

Zlat appears at festivals and jazz events in Romania and internationally, performing as a soloist and with his trio. His festival appearances include Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Getxo Jazz Festival, Sibiu Jazz Festival, Jazz Napocensis in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest Jazz Festival, Jazz Compass, Terra Festival in Istanbul, Jazz Hoeillart in Belgium, and Enter Music Festival in Poland.

Collaborations and recording work

He performs on the same stage as Kenny Garrett, Lee Ritenour, Branford Marsalis, Lee Konitz, Roy Hargrove, Chris Potter, Chucho Valdés, Sonny Emory, Jeff Ballard, Dave Grusin, Ravi Coltrane and Leszek Możdżer. In 2015 he releases his first album, Endurance, which includes the piece “Roxane”, dedicated to his sister. The song is linked to the illness she receives in 2011 and is part of an album centred on family and emotional endurance.

He performs in jazz clubs in Romania and across Europe and North America, and he is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute.