Music
Into The Aquasphere
Florian Hoefner
Track List
Details
Florian Hoefner
Into The Aquasphere
Multi JUNO, ECMA and ASCAP award winner, Florian Hoefner unites a Jazz Quartet and a Chamber Orchestra on ambitious new album.
Recorded in Montreal with an all-star cast led by conductor JC Sanford, Into the Aquasphere explores water and climate through three original compositions.
Track listing
- Aerial Rivers
- AMOC
- Force of Nature
Personnel
JC Sanford - conductor
Florian Hoefner - piano
John Hébert - jazz bass
Eric McPherson - drums
Chris James - flute, piccolo flute, alto flute
Christine Carter - clarinet, bass clarinet
Quinsin Nachoff - tenor saxophone
Micajah Sturgess - French horn
Ben Reimer - percussion
Nathalie Bonin - concertmaster
and a 17-piece string orchestra
Florian Hoefner is a man who loves a challenge. His instrumental virtuosity as a pianist and his sharply-honed skills as a composer have previously been on display in the jazz world. There, he has won a Juno Award and earned international acclaim for a now extensive discography. He has also made forays into classical chamber music as the composer of the critically lauded "Blue Chapter" of "Project Earth" by the Iris Trio and poet Don McKay.
Hoefner is now moving into the orchestral realm, with equally compelling results, as evidenced by his upcoming album, Into the Aquasphere. This is Hoefner's first large ensemble project, and it features a jazz quartet (piano, bass, drums and tenor saxophone) in tandem with a 22-piece classical chamber orchestra. As Florian stresses, ''this is not a jazz quartet accompanied by an orchestra, but one ensemble, where the quartet is fully integrated with the orchestra." The result is neither strictly jazz or classical, but an original symbiosis bringing out the best of both.
Armed with the three original compositions that comprise Into the Aquasphere, ''Aerial Rivers,'' ''AMOC,'' and ''Force of Nature,'' Florian went into Studio Piccolo in Montreal in October 2024 with a cast of outstanding musicians from across North America led by conductor JC Sanford. The ensemble included one of New York's finest rhythm sections with John Hébert on jazz bass and Eric McPherson on drums, an all-star woodwind section, including his wife, clarinetist and bass clarinetist Christine Carter, genre-bending percussionist Ben Reimer, and an exceptional string section led by Grammy Award-winning concertmaster, Nathalie Bonin.
The ensemble delivers a compelling performance of Florian's masterful compositions, combining virtuosity, contagious rhythmic energy, and a lush, refined soundscape to create music of cinematic quality. Their performance conveys the full range of emotions needed to engage deeply with this complex subject.
Reflecting on his artistic philosophy, Hoefner explains, "I'm driven by the challenge of finding new ways to express my musical voice. Whether through different ensembles, collaborations, or artistic contexts, my goal is always the same: to create work that connects with audiences through performance."
Into the Aquasphere brings that philosophy to life on an extraordinary scale, uniting an ensemble that transforms Hoefner's distinctive musical voice into a powerful, immersive artistic experience.