Koki Nakano

Taking the piano ever further into uncharted territory, Koki Nakano performs his third album, with the complicity of dancer Tess Voelker.

Sitting behind a piano since his earliest childhood, the Fukuoka-born pianist has emancipated himself from a certain idea of classical composition, between gentleness and simplicity. After a first album in 2016 in collaboration with cellist Vincent Ségal and a second released in 2020, he returns in 2022 with this new opus, which borrows its title from an expression coined by French writer and musician Romain Rolland in 1927. In a letter to Sigmund Freud, Rolland described the oceanic feeling as "an impression of eternity, a sensation of unity with the world around us". While this concept of unity permeates Nakano's entire album, the music also evokes his inability to fully experience this famous oceanic feeling, reflecting his melancholy, internal tensions and quest for harmony thwarted by his own limitations.

Fascinated by the relationship between music and the body, Nakano has made numerous forays into the world of dance, collaborating with choreographer Damien Jalet and American dancer Tess Voelker, who joined him at Les Franciscaines for a moment of pure grace.