In this episode of The Piano Pod, I sit down with Elena Riu — pianist, groundbreaking recording artist, educator, and yoga/mindfulness teacher — whose work has reshaped how we think about artistry, embodiment, and the future of piano performance. Elena has long been a force of quiet revolution.

Long before conversations about inclusivity and expanded repertoire entered the mainstream, she was commissioning bold new works, centering Latin-American and women composers, and exploring how breath, movement, and somatic awareness can transform the way we play and teach music.

This conversation travels across the full spectrum of her artistry — from embodied performance to cultural identity, from the menstrual cycle as a source of creativity to breaking nineteenth-century norms about who pianists should be and what they should play. If you’ve ever wondered how breath shapes sound, how identity shapes expression, or how artists can create courageously beyond convention, this is a conversation you won’t forget.

[Explore Elena’s Work]

Salsa Nueva — Score (16-piece anthology):

• 📘 Purchase on Stretta
• 📘 Purchase on Presto Music

Salsa Nueva — Album (with Latin percussionist Wilmer Sifontes):

• 🎧 SOMM Recordings

Out of the Blues / R&B Collection — Score:

• 📘 Purchase on Presto Music

Piano Icons for the 21st Century (Linn Records):

• 🎧 Amazon

🌐 Elena’s Website

✨ If you enjoyed this episode…

• Please like, comment, and subscribe — it truly helps our community grow.
• Follow The Piano Pod on social media for more conversations at the intersection of creativity, connection, and the evolving world of classical music.
• 📝 My blog on Elena & her album Salsa Nueva:
• 🎵 Listen to our Sounds of Inspiration – Piano Works from Season 6 Playlist

Thank you for listening — and for supporting a space where artists can be fully themselves.

#ThePianoPod #Season6 #ElenaRiu #EmbodiedMusician #EmbodiedPianist #ClassicalMusic #Piano #SalsaNueva #MindfulnessForMusicians #Somatics #YogaForMusicians #NewMusic #LatinAmericanComposers #CreativeCourage #PianistLife

🎶✨ What if jazz could be taught as naturally as language—where freedom, creativity, and collaboration drive learning?

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 5 of The Piano Pod, featuring Quentin Walston — pianist, composer, educator, and founder of This Is Jazz™. In this conversation, we explore how Quentin bridges performance, pedagogy, and entrepreneurship through his acclaimed book How to Teach Jazz & Improvisation and his growing online platform empowering educators worldwide.

In our talk, Quentin shares:

• ✅ His mission to make jazz approachable for every student
• ✅ How his book helps teachers with little or no jazz background start confidently
• ✅ Turning small classroom moments into creative breakthroughs
• ✅ Building a thriving online community for jazz educators
• ✅ Balancing artistry and business as a modern musician
• ✅ His personal journey — from discovering jazz as a child to releasing his album Retro Future

👉 Stay tuned until the end for rapid-fire fun and key insights on creativity, confidence, and cultivating joy through improvisation.

🎼 Explore Quentin’s Work

• 🌐 Website: quentinwalston.com
• 📘 Book: How to Teach Jazz & Improvisation
• 🎵 Platform: This Is Jazz
• 💿 Album: Retro Future

🎧 The Piano Pod 💖 Subscribe or unlock exclusive content: thepianopod.substack.com 🎵 Listen to our Sounds of Inspiration – Piano Works from Season 6 playlist: YouTube Playlist 📫 Join our newsletter: Sign Up

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Get ready for our next episode of The Piano Pod: The Embodied Pianist with Elena Riu — pianist, groundbreaking recording artist, educator, and yoga/mindfulness teacher.

In this powerful conversation, we explore embodied performance, somatics, breath, creativity, cultural identity, and even the menstrual cycle as a source of artistic insight. Elena’s work challenges long-held assumptions about what pianists should play, how they should train, and how the body shapes sound.

In this episode, Elena and I talk about:

• ✅ Her journey from Venezuela to the UK — and how navigating multiple identities shaped her artistry
• ✅ The creation of Salsa Nueva and the importance of commissioning new works
• ✅ What it means to challenge 19th-century biases about repertoire and artistic identity
• ✅ Her work as an embodied pianist and how somatics, breath, and movement transform playing
• ✅ Collaboration with dancers, visual artists, poets, and composers
• ✅ Why she opens taboo conversations like creativity and the menstrual cycle among biologically female performers

🎬 Set a reminder for the premiere tomorrow at 8 pm ET: https://youtu.be/exIQxYGbQw8

🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to the audio episode (Spotify, Apple, Amazon & more) available tomorrow, November 18 at 8:00pm ET: https://rss.com/podcasts/the-piano-pod/

📝 Read my full review of Elena’s groundbreaking album Salsa Nueva on Substack

#ThePianoPod #Season6 #ElenaRiu #EmbodiedPianist #SalsaNueva #LatinAmericanMusic #NewMusic #ContemporaryPiano #SteinwayArtist #WomenInMusic #Somatics #MusiciansHealth #ClassicalMusicReimagined