Andrew Keese concert at Rīgas Reformātu baznīca

On August 5 at 19:00, Australian pianist Andrew Keese will perform one of two concerts in the Baltics at the Riga Reformātu Church, together with musician Julian Lyngcoln, offering a unique contemporary ambient music experience that blurs the boundaries between acoustic instruments and the sound space created by Erica Synths synthesizers.

The special concert program at Riga Reformed Church will feature works from the albums Illuminator (2025) and Minutiae (2023), where acoustic grand piano, nuanced rhythmic electronics, and Erica Synths synthesizers—handled by Melbourne-based musician Julian Lyngcoln—combine in an unusual configuration, offering a rare opportunity to experience this encounter in live performance. The music is characterized by meditative introspection and refined expressive restraint. Illuminator, just released, was composed by Keese during his residency at the prestigious Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia and marks the beginning of the album's European tour.

Andrew Keese is a composer, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist from Australia, whose diverse work blends elements of neoclassicism, ambient music, and post-rock. Over his creative career, his work has been compared to artists such as Nils Frahm, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, and Trent Reznor. A 2023 review of Minutiae by an Australian music journalist described it as “a crystal-clear expression of how the natural resonance of the piano can meaningfully interact with the subtle electronic tones created by synthesizers and digital effects.”

Keese himself describes Illuminator, released this July, as an important and ambitious step forward in his artistic development, with music that is more intense, multilayered, and rhythmically complex—at times even atonal—drawing influence from, among others, the work of American avant-garde composer Pauline Oliveros.

The concert will feature the Steampipe physical modeling synthesizer, produced by the internationally recognized Latvian company Erica Synths, which has sparked Keese’s interest while living in Australia. The synthesizer operates on mathematical algorithms that model how sound is formed in string and wind instruments, enabling the creation of highly organic timbres. These sounds will interact with the grand piano in the unique acoustics of the Reformed Church.

The concert is produced by Artes Liberales. Keese will compose his next album during a creative residency with Artes Liberales in Riga.

Event details:

August 5, 2025, at 19:00

Riga Reformed Church, Mārstaļu iela 10, Riga

Tickets: www.bilesuparadize.lv