REBECCA HASS
“You can hear [Rebecca’s] mastery of the piano + her adventurous spirit, combining her sense of syncopation + great harmonic sensibility.
A true pleasure to listen to and discover!”
— Music Talks
PRESS RELEASE
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Rebecca Hass announces her new album of original piano music, Bright Little Worlds, to be released May 31, 2024. This imaginative, heart-filled collection of 22 compositions in various styles (Brazilian, jazz, waltz, impressionistic, and others) is arranged in a hero’s journey-style narrative trajectory where each one is its own character or little world - something for every mood - and reflects a dedication to following creative curiosity and joy.
It features guest musicians Debbie Gold (flute) and Brian Rice (pandeiro), and is inspired by influences as diverse as Hermeto Pascoal, Laercio de Freitas, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copland, Vince Guaraldi, and Thelonious Monk.
She also performs solo shows of her own compositions and arrangements of classic Brazilian sambas, choros, and baiãos, which you can hear on her debut album, Florescer (Bloom), was described as “thoughtful as it is clever and original” and “a delightful 43 minutes of musical sunshine.”
With a deep passion for Brazilian rhythms, Rebecca has been part of the Brazilian music scene in the Bay Area for the last 5 years, having been a guest with the Berkeley Choro Ensemble, and soloist with the Diablo Symphony and Echo Chamber Orchestra on Brazilian and Latin pieces written by living composers.
Rebecca works as a collaborative pianist and educator in the Bay Area, and has been a founding member of Modern Spark Trio, a piano trio with diverse repertoire in Minneapolis, as well as the Brazilian percussion group Batucada do Norte. She also supports musicians through creative coaching, and, as a curious human, she is always designing new practices for herself, her students, and clients.
Bright Little Worlds (May 31, 2024)
“With its many musical styles, Bright Little Worlds demonstrates Hass' versatility as a composer as well as her very expressive playing style…
[it’s] an excellent second album sure to brighten your own little world!”
- Kathy Parsons, MainlyPiano.com
Florescer (2018 Brazilian album)
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
6/2/24: Bright Little Worlds album release show (R. Kassman Pianos, Berkeley, CA
8/11/24: Bright Little Worlds album release show (Zion Community Commons, St. Paul, MN)
PREVIOUS:
11/17/23: California Festival of New Music with Echo Chamber Orchestra (piano soloist on Horacio Fernandez Vazquez’s: Tumbao - Suite for Orchestra and Lea Freire’s: Mamulengo, San Anselmo, CA)
10/1/23: Brazilian Choro + More - solo show (Brani Piano Art Atelier, San Francisco, CA)
5/14/23: Sounds of the Americas: Sounds of Brazil w/Berkeley Choro Ensemble + Diablo Symphony Orchestra (guest soloist on Brazilian Choro Suite by Peixoto/Wainapel, arr. Felipe Senna, Walnut Creek, CA)
QUOTES
“With its many musical styles, Bright Little Worlds demonstrates Hass' versatility as a composer as well as her very expressive playing style…[it’s] an excellent second album sure to brighten your own little world!”
— Kathy Parsons, MainlyPiano.com
“The music of ‘Florescer’ is both exciting and beautiful, and is as thoughtful as it is clever and original. Hass has certainly created an attractive, infectious Brazilian piano album; one that will be a pleasant listening experience for all, one that will remind us why we love music, and one that will make us fall in love all over again.”
— Austin Franklin, The Sybaritic Singer
“What a delightful 43 minutes of musical sunshine it is…with vibrant rhythms, energetic piano and an infectious zest for life! …If you can sit still while listening to the livelier tracks, you might want to check your pulse!”
— Kathy Parsons, MainlyPiano.com (included on 2018 Favorites list)
“A refreshing take on instrumental Brazilian inspired music…you can hear [Rebecca’s] mastery of the piano and her adventurous spirit, combining her sense of syncopation and great harmonic sensibility. A true pleasure to listen to and discover!”
— Patrick Talbot, Music Talks
“This album shows that [Rebecca Hass] has unusual ideas about Brazilian music, and she isn't content to just play it the same way as everyone else. This is a snapshot of an artist at the beginning of a long and exciting journey.”
— Marc Phillips, The Vinyl Anachronist
“Undulates along the Juan Tizol planes followed by Caravan, complex rhythms, explorative and engrossing. Moves the entire C1 to L5 vertebrae.”
— Fiona Ord-Shrimpton, All About Jazz (on Maracatu do Manatim, featured as a Download of the Day)