Junūn – Music For Large Ensemble
Composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Bardia Charaf collaborates with pianist David Virelles and his trio on a project that brings orchestral writing into direct dialogue with improvisation.
About the album
Composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist Bardia Charaf collaborates with pianist David Virelles and his trio on a project that brings orchestral writing into direct dialogue with improvisation. Featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, the music grows out of a long-standing artistic friendship between Charaf and Virelles, with the orchestra functioning as an active part of the ensemble rather than a backdrop for the trio.
Junūn – Music For Large Ensemble is set for release on January 15th, 2027 via Unit Records.
Across the compositions, individual instruments emerge from the larger sound, enter into dialogue and return to the ensemble. Solo passages give way to chamber-like exchanges, while rhythmic ideas pass between the trio and orchestra, changing as they move through different instrumental combinations. The music shifts between densely layered passages and more spacious sections, balancing rhythmic clarity with moments of suspension.
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The trio provides an improvisational centre, but bass and drums contribute directly to the wider ensemble, rather than simply supporting the piano. Charaf’s compositions provide a framework for this interaction, while improvisation allows the music to develop in response to the musicians’ playing. Individual voices remain distinct, even as the ensemble shapes them into a shared musical statement.
Charaf’s work spans composition, improvisation and interdisciplinary research. As a composer, conductor and ensemble leader, he draws on Afro-Caribbean, Western classical and Middle Eastern traditions, approaching them as interconnected musical histories rather than separate systems. His work ranges from solo and ensemble pieces to orchestral, site-specific and interdisciplinary productions, often exploring the relationships between sound, space and perception. Alongside his artistic practice, Charaf is active as an author and musicologist (PhD), with work published by Springer.
Raised in a musical family in Santiago de Cuba, Virelles has developed a distinctive musical language shaped by Afro-Caribbean traditions, Western classical training and historical research. His work includes three albums for ECM Records, while Continuum was named album of the year by The New York Times in 2012. Other projects include The Singer’s Grove series, recognised by NPR as Best Latin Jazz Album in 2018, and ORO, an interdisciplinary work commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Virelles is a Steinway Artist, Guggenheim Fellow and tenured professor at Zürich University of the Arts.
Bringing Charaf’s orchestral approach together with Virelles’ experience as a pianist and composer, the collaboration explores the possibilities of a large ensemble in which written structures and improvisation continually shape one another.
