Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Haitian-American Pianist Jonathan Cambry Gets 2.5 Million YouTube Views


[Jonathan Cambry]

AfriClassical first wrote about the young Chicago pianist Jonathan Cambry in April 2008. Recently we told him we would like to post current information on his activities: “Feel free to check out my website, http://www.jonathancambry.com, I have been playing a lot on the West coast, touring, giving benefit concerts for Haiti since I am Haitian-American as well (my dad is from Haiti).” “Thanks for writing to me and considering me for future postings! I'm very grateful that you did that in 2008 as well!”

Jonathan Cambry's YouTube videos include a “Benefit for Haiti” performance on Jan. 21, 2010 at Northwestern University Law School. He plays Etude-Tableau No. 5 (5:00) of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

“Jonathan Paul Cambry (b.1982) is a Haitian-American, classically trained pianist from the southside of Chicago. He has been playing piano since the age of 3, studying with David Andrews of the Suzuki-Orff School for 15 years. He is currently one of the most viewed and most subscribed pianists on YouTube to date, with over 2.5 million views and over 5,800 subscribers. He has posted over 37 music videos of himself playing the works of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and other composers. Thanks to his YouTube popularity, he was invited to perform in a gallery opening in New York, performances in Svendborg-Denmark, Amsterdam, Malaysia, Italy, and all over the United States. In 1997, Cambry won the Silver Medal at the NAACP ACT-SO Awards competition for the Music Instrumental-Classical category and in 1998 and 1999 won the Gold Medal in the categories of Music Instrumental-Classical and Music Instrumental-Contemporary.”

“Cambry continues to play in recitals, compose movie soundtracks, and perform in a variety of music projects. He is the featured performer and musical director for Sonatasia, founded by architect David M. Parker (http://www.sonatasia.org) which is a project that originated in Laguna Beach, California that combines classical music and architecture. Through this opportunity, Cambry was able to collaborate with many other prominent musicians and dancers. Most recently in March of 2010, Cambry and Parker collaborated and raised over $3000 for Haiti. In Chicago, Cambry hosts the largest monthly-organized piano meetings in the city, located at http://www.meetup.com/pianoparty.”





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