Mathei Florea New Grounds

Mathei Florea (piano and composition)

Aleksandra Błachno-Kulig (viiul ja vokaal)

Alvise Carli (violin)

Philine Höhnisch (viola)

Kornelia Jamborowicz (cello)

Dmytro Bondarev (trumpet)

Christian Müller (double bass)

Johannes Metzger (drums)

Mathei Florea New Grounds is an eight-member ensemble performing Nordic modern jazz based in Berlin, who were named jazz ensemble of the year by the Estonian Jazz Awards 2025, regardless of geography. The combination of a classical jazz quartet and strings is a common and beloved ensemble that combines modern jazz and classical music. The band’s creator and leader is the young talented pianist Mathei Florea. The sound language inspired by the music of Petros Klampanis and Arvo Pärt is heard both on their first album “Snap” (2024) and on the second studio album to be released at the end of 2026.

Mathei Florea is a young Estonian jazz pianist who has studied under Kristjan Randalu at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater and later at Skurups folkhögskola in Sweden. As of 2020, he holds a bachelor’s degree from the Berlin Jazz Institute. In recent years, he has been associated with various projects and numerous jazz artists and ensembles both in Estonia and elsewhere, such as Foyl Aka, Flow Rea and New Wind Jazz Orchestra.

Above all, this music is beautiful – precisely in the traditional sense of European classical aesthetics. The sound is sublime and inventively atmospheric, and the jazz rhythms intertwine with the whole naturally and smoothly.

From Jazzthet

Florea and New Grounds cultivate a genre they call Nordic jazz. Such music is often performed by thoughtful Scandinavian old masters, mostly in trios.

Hoolimata sellest, et New Groundsi muusika on märksa lopsakam ja heliliselt tihedam kui see, mida seni on nordic jazz’i all mõistetud, on see endiselt inspireeritud loodusest. Sellele viitavad lood „Metsatee“, „Liblikas“ ja üks eesti jaanipäevale pühendatud kompositsioon. Kõige kaunim oli aga kontserdi lõpulugu, mis on inspireeritud Konstantin Türnpu armsast laulust „Meil aiaäärne tänavas“. Selle vokaalosa esitas Aleksandra Błachno-Kulig. Esiotsa tundus, et ta laulab mingis kaunis ja tundmatus, valdavalt vokaalidest koosnevas haldjakeeles. Veel natuke – ja juba hakkasid sõnad selguma. Kõik eestlased saalis said neist muidugi aru – see kõlas südametes kaasa.

Hendrik Alla (Postman)

See also:

Mathei Florea New Grounds – Snap

A concert without an intermission lasting approx. 90 min