Today we’re listening to Mischa Blanos, a Romanian pianist and composer from Bucharest. He started playing piano at age seven and within a few years was touring across Europe. He began composing his own music while at university, and branched out from classical music into electronic and techno. In his original works, Blanos fuses these dual influences of classical composition and contemporary techniques and approaches. We’re first playing his May 2024 record, Titans, a collection of seven brisk, staccato solo piano pieces. Then we’re playing City Jungle from 2021, which incorporates more electronic elements – drum machines and synths. A conversation with Mischa follows the streaming links.

Titans - Mischa Blanos (26m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

City Jungle - Mischa Blanos (43m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

What's your earliest memory of music?

I think my earliest memory of music is when I had to sing a song for my music school admission when I was seven. It was Die Forelle by Schubert, and I remember practicing it over and over again. I was absolutely terrified when the moment came, and maybe that’s why the memory is still so vivid.

How did you start playing piano?

I was born in the communist era in Bucharest, Romania. My parents were educated, but my family was poor, feeding and caring for four kids was not easy for them. And we lived in a pretty tough neighborhood, constantly being in a fight or flight mode, literally. If you remember the movie City of God, for those boys in the slums one of the few ways to escape poverty was football. Well, for me, it was piano. I started piano at seven years old and spent countless hours studying and preparing for classical music competitions and auditions. They called me a child prodigy, cause I kept winning classical piano awards and also toured in Germany at 10 years old. So my teachers predicted for me a beautiful solo career as a pianist performing classical music. And honestly, for the longest time, I thought that was the only path I could take. All my school years were spent in music schools, from primary to university. But during uni I had the most unexpected encounter, an encounter that would change my life.

Tell us about that and the people at school who inspired you most to play and compose your own pieces.

First and foremost, it was a music teacher that changed my course of life. I was in Rotterdam for a masterclass with this professor of jazz music. I remember playing Shostakovich for him, and he seemed impressed. But then, instead of just talking about my performance, he grabbed a piece of paper and drew a triangle. He split it in half and colored one side. He told me that this colored part represented my ability to interpret music—the technique, the sensitivity to play any classical composer outstandingly. But the other part of the triangle was empty for me, he said. That part was the composer's side. It blew my mind. Right then, I realized I wanted more than just to perform. I wanted to tell my own stories.

After that, I made a big decision. I left university, bought a one-way bus ticket from Bucharest to Hamburg, and that’s when a new chapter of my life began. I eventually moved to Berlin, and that’s where everything really came together for me. The experimental and techno scene there blew my mind. I was fascinated by how electronic music could merge so effortlessly with classical elements. It gave my piano compositions a whole new dimension and texture—stuff I never even imagined before.
As for inspiration from other composers, well, the western titans never left my mind. Bach, Shostakovich, and Rachmaninoff are the most close to my heart.

What records/pieces have you been playing the most of late?

Mehliana - Taming The Dragon

The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam

Plastikman & Chilly Gonzales - “Consumed in Key”

What piano did you record Titans and City Jungle on?

The album Titans was recorded at Golden Retriever Studios in Berlin on a 1920’s Yamaha Concert Grand Piano of 2,70 meters.

City Jungle was recorded at Hinterlandlab Studios in Paris on a Hybrid Piano made from Steinway and Yamaha.

Which present-day pianists do you admire the most?

Nik Bärtsch, Chilly Gonzales, Brad Mehldau, Floating Points

What are you working on next?

I just wrapped up recording my new album, Basilica. After Titans, which was purely solo piano, this album takes me back to my acoustic-electronic journey. The big difference this time is that I recorded it with a live drummer, which adds a new dynamic to the sound. So, the live performances will also be set up as a duo. Combining the live acoustic drums with the electronic drums and percussion, feels like the next big step in merging these two worlds—acoustic and electronic.

The concept behind the album explores how our perception of faith has shifted—no longer seeing religion as the only path to connect with something greater. "Basilica" is all about modern places of worship, where today’s humans find their own kind of peace, comfort, and connection—whether it's while traveling, at a club, in a church, or in the comfort of their own home.