Newton Piano Summit

2026 Season

March 14, 15, 21, 22 from 3 to 5 pm

• March 14:
  • Maxim Lubarsky kicks off the Summit with his powerhouse trio featuring bassist John Lockwood and drummer Rafel Barata.
  • Hidemi Akaiwa returns after her jaw-dropping performance in 2023. She is a visionary keyboardist and composer whose music fuses Japanese Zen philosophy with jazz and microtonal contemporary classical traditions.
• March 15:
  • TBD
  • Young pianist Liz Sinn has been turning heads with her incredible talent and prowess. She takes the stage with bassist John Lockwood and drummer Lee Fish.
• March 21:
  • Brazilian Legends: pianist Hélio Alves, bassist Gili Lopes and drummer Rafael Barata. Deep groove, fearless interplay, and that unmistakable Brazilian pulse, delivered at the highest level.
  • Lee Fish & Friends: An amazing blend of Jazz, Soul and Folk from drummer Lee Fish, Pianist Jiří Nedoma and saxophonist Edmar Colon.
• March 22:
  • Grammy-winning New York jazz pianist David Kikoski is a blazing improviser whose fearless harmonic imagination, deep swing, and lyrical touch have made him a legend among musicians worldwide.
  • Alexei Tsiganov is a world-class jazz pianist and vibraphonist known for his virtuosic improvisation, genre-blending compositions, and deep impact on New England’s creative music scene. He returns for his third Summit performance, teaming up with Kikoski and playing on his first love, the vibraphone.
• More about the performers below

Latest Videos:

---

Saturday March 14, 3 PM

3 pm. Maxim Lubarsky: Classical Foundations, Jazz Improvisation, and Contemporary Projects

Maxim Lubarsky is no stranger to Newton, having appeared at many of the major venues in the city and across the Greater Boston region. Known for his range across genres—whether accompanying opera singers, performing with Eastern European ensembles, playing straight-ahead jazz, or working in Latin and salsa settings—he brings a flexible, stylistically literate approach to each musical context. Limited by COVID to performing online for the Summit in 2020, we welcome him and his all-star trio to the live stage to kick off our 2026 season.

From Odessa, Ukraine, he is renowned for his stylistic versatility and deep musicality. Trained as a classical pianist at the prestigious Stolyarsky School and Odessa State Conservatory, he later discovered his passion for jazz, founding the award-winning group, Art Session. After touring internationally and performing with the Odessa State Symphony, he moved to the U.S. upon receiving a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, Hal Crook, and Joe Lovano.

Lubarsky has collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dave Liebman, and Gabrielle Goodman, Grace Kelly and leads multiple ensembles, including his own quartet and the Latin jazz group TRIAD. He has performed and taught across Europe, South Africa, China, and the United States, appearing at festivals such as Cambridge Jazz Festival, Black Sea Jazz Weekend (Ukraine), Diacetum Festival (Italy), Art Naples (FL), Jazz on the edge (Israel) and the Spoleto Festival (USA), where he appeared as a soloist performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with orchestra. Currently based in Boston, Maxim tours globally, conducts masterclasses, and serves as an Associate Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music. Website: https://www.maximlubarsky.com/

Boston legend bassist John Lockwood, known for his tasteful and reliably rock-solid playing across jazz and orchestral settings, is literally the first-call bassist in the region. He has toured in the U.S. and Europe with artists and groups including Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Burton, the Mel Lewis Big Band, and the Fringe.

His performance credits include appearances with Pat Metheny, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, Toots Thielemans, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, and organizations such as the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, and the MIT Symphony. It is no surprise that he has performed more times at the Summit than any other bassist.

Over the course of his career, Barata has performed and recorded widely in Brazil and internationally, with credits that include Eliane Elias (including the Grammy-winning “Made in Brazil”) and other leading Brazilian music and jazz artists. He’s maintained a strong presence on the scene, including long-running work in Rio de Janeiro and later in New York. He will also be performing on the 21st with Helio Alves. (see below) Website: https://www.rafaelbarata.com/

Saturday, March 14, 4 PM

Hidemi Akaiwa: Contemporary keys with a Zen-informed center

Hidemi Akaiwa is a keyboardist and composer whose work brings together Japanese aesthetics, microtonal practice, and improvisation within jazz and contemporary music settings. Her performance at the 2023 Piano Summit was jaw-dropping amazing. She pushed the boundaries of music in ways most people had never heard before. The comments kept pouring in, so we had to have her back.

She began piano study in early childhood and later shifted from a corporate career to focus on music, enrolling at Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. At Berklee, she participated in the Global Jazz Institute, the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, the Planet MicroJam Institute, and the Interdisciplinary Arts Institute and received the Toshiko Akiyoshi Composition Award.

Her training has included study with Danilo Pérez, Kenny Werner, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Billy Childs, and David Fiuczynski, among others. Akaiwa is also associated with projects that emphasize microtonal and cross-cultural approaches to improvisation, including Japanese MicroJam.

In recent years, she has continued expanding her performance and recording activity, including the 2024 release Processes (with Evan Palmer and Francisco Mela). She has also pursued graduate study at New England Conservatory in Contemporary Musical Arts (MM ’25).

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hidemi_akaiwa/
Bandcamp (Processes): https://boomslangrecords.bandcamp.com/album/processes
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmgm2OAhmYjPYEghH_t72Ww

Sunday, March 15, 4 pm

Saturday, March 21, 3 pm

Hélio Alves: Brazilian Jazz Piano in New York

The Summit is incredibly lucky to have convinced the legendary Hélio Alves to perform. Brazilian pianist from São Paulo, he has been based in New York City since the 1990s. His work sits at the intersection of modern Brazilian repertoire and contemporary jazz, with a career shaped by long-term collaboration as much as by leadership projects.

Alves moved to the United States at 18 to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he completed his degree and began building his professional network before relocating to New York. In New York, he became a sought-after sideman, performing and recording with Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D’Rivera, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Sadao Watanabe, Slide Hampton, Joyce, and Rosa Passos.

Alongside extensive sideman work, Alves has released many recordings under his own name and led ensembles that highlight the rhythmic and harmonic language of Brazilian jazz. He shares this vocabulary through educational work, including a Brazilian jazz piano course with Open Studio. Website: https://www.helioalvesmusic.net/

Gili Lopes is a Brazilian bassist and composer based in New York City. His work reflects a long arc of study and professional activity across Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the U.S., with an emphasis on original music.

Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Lopes began on bass as a teenager and built early experience performing locally. In his early twenties, he moved to London to focus on upright bass, completing Jazz Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He spent a decade working as a freelance musician in the U.K., then continued his academic studies in Berlin, earning a master’s degree in composition and arrangement at the Jazz Institute/Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK).

As a performer, Lopes has appeared internationally in venues and festivals including Ronnie Scott’s, Queen Elizabeth Hall, SummerStage in Central Park, the London Jazz Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He released Algures (2024), with original compositions alongside music by Wayne Shorter and Milton Nascimento. Website: https://linktr.ee/gililopes

Rafael Barata is a Brazilian drummer, percussionist, and producer, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Barata’s playing is known for bringing the fire and passion with meticulous time and forms, and an ability to move seamlessly between straight-ahead jazz phrasing and Brazilian groove-oriented approaches.

Barata began playing drums at age five and started studio work as a teenager. His credits include collaborations with Emilio Santiago, Rosa Passos, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Kenny Barron, Edu Lobo, Leny Andrade, Lisa Ono, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Werner, Toots Thielemans, Antonia Bennett, Esperanza Spalding, Christian McBride, Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, and other major figures across Brazilian and American scenes.

In addition to performing, he maintains an active presence as an educator and producer. Website: https://www.rafaelbarata.com/

Saturday, March 21, 4 pm

Lee Fish & Friends, featuring Niri Nedoma and Edmar Colon: A distilled blend of Jazz, Soul, and Folk

Lee Fish is a Boston-born drummer and composer now based in New York City. While at Berklee College of Music, he was a regular presence on Boston bandstands—especially at Wally’s—working in ensembles led by artists such as Jason Palmer and alongside musicians including Esperanza Spalding, Nadia Washington, and Evgeny Lebedev. He returns to the Summit after his performance with Anastassiya Petrova in 2025.

Since relocating to New York in 2018, Fish has continued as a working drummer and has also developed projects under his own name, with performances cited at venues including The Jazz Gallery and Birdland. Website: https://www.leefishmusic.com/

Jiří (“Niri”) Nedoma Jiří (“Niri”) Nedoma was born in Prague, Czech Republic. He began piano lessons at age five. After high school, Nedoma enrolled at the Conservatory of Jaroslav Ježek in Prague, where he pursued classical and jazz studies concurrently. During this time, he became a member of the Czech Radio Big Band, performing with jazz and pop artists across Europe. He was also a finalist in Belgium’s Jazz Hoeilaart International Contest as a member of the Ondřej Štveráček Quartet, and was selected as one of two musicians to represent the Czech Republic at a Visegrad Alliance meeting of four Central European states.

Nedoma later received a scholarship through Berklee College of Music’s World Scholarship Tour and moved to Boston. He earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Berklee and received the Claire Beskind Award for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Piano Department. He completed a master’s degree at New England Conservatory with support from the Helena Foundation Presidential Scholarship. His studies at Berklee and NEC included work with Fred Hersch, Jerry Bergonzi, Joanne Brackeen, Jason Moran, Phil Wilson, and Hal Crook.

As a performer, he has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Beantown Jazz Festival, and San José Jazz Festival, and has played venues and halls such as Jordan Hall, Berklee Performance Center, Smalls, ShapeShifter Lab, Jazz Dock, Regattabar, Scullers Jazz Club, and Wally’s Jazz Club. He has collaborated with Terri Lyne Carrington, Hal Crook, and Donna McElroy, and recorded with artists including Gabrielle Goodman, Albino Mbie, Jeannie Gagné, and Nadia Washington. His recording with vocalist Yvonne Sanchez, My Garden, received nominations in the Czech Republic for Album of the Year and Jazz Record of the Year.

Based in New England, Nedoma remains active as a performer, accompanist, arranger, and educator, bringing a flexible approach across acoustic piano and keyboards. Website: https://jirinedoma.com/

Edmar Noé Colón Gierbolini is a Puerto Rican-born saxophonist, pianist, composer, arranger, and educator. He is a Berklee Presidential Scholarship recipient, completing studies that combine performance with classical composition, and later earning a master’s degree in Global Studies through the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

As a performer, Colón has appeared at major jazz festivals cited in institutional materials, including Detroit, Puerto Rico Heineken, Toronto, Panama, and Montreal. He also works behind the scenes as an arranger/orchestrator; profiles credit him with arranging and orchestrating work connected to Grammy-recognized projects including Esperanza Spalding’s 12 Little Spells and Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards. Website: https://www.edmarcolon.com/

Sunday March 22

East Meets East: Kikoski and Tsiganov in an explosive Summit finale.

Grammy-winning jazz pianist David Kikoski is one of those artists revered by musicians worldwide, even if he’s less known to the general public. He is one of New York’s most in-demand improvisers, celebrated for his blistering swing feel, fearless harmonic imagination, and lyrical touch at the piano. Since arriving on the New York scene in the mid-1980s, he has been a first-call collaborator for masters such as Roy Haynes, Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Pat Metheny, and the Mingus Big Band, as well as leading voices including George Garzone, Red Rodney, Craig Handy, Ralph Moore, Joe Locke, Didier Lockwood, Seamus Blake, Alex Sipiagin, Christian McBride, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and many others—all while building an acclaimed discography as a leader that now spans more than twenty albums.

Rooted in the jazz tradition yet constantly pushing it forward, Kikoski moves effortlessly from hard-swinging bop to lush ballads, from rhythmically daring trio interplay to high-octane large-ensemble work. His playing has drawn praise from peers and press alike: Chick Corea lauded “the brilliant playing of David Kikoski” that “just smokes,” and The New York Times has described him as a pianist of “broad experience and even broader capability.”

Kikoski’s recordings highlight the range of his artistry, from early trio dates to recent acclaimed releases such as Consequences, Phoenix Rising, and Sure Thing, which showcase both his original writing and his daring reimagining of standards. As a key member of the Mingus Big Band, he appears on their Grammy-winning Live at the Jazz Standard, and his work with Roy Haynes on Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker—alongside an all-star lineup of modern jazz greats—earned a Grammy nomination and further cemented his status as one of the defining pianists of his generation.

David appears here in a special duo encounter with Alexei Tsiganov, the phenomenally inventive pianist and vibraphonist known for blending his Russian roots with Latin grooves and modern jazz, creating a fiery, conversational interplay at the keyboard.

Since making New England his home, Tsiganov has become a vital contributor to the region’s creative music scene. He has performed with virtually every major local jazz artist, led countless ensembles, run regular sessions, and inspired students through teaching and mentoring. His leadership helped launch the Newton Piano Summit, a premier regional jazz festival showcasing top-tier talent in a community setting.

A sought-after performer, Tsiganov has appeared at renowned venues such as the Regattabar, Jazz Standard, and the Museum of Fine Arts. He has shared the stage with jazz luminaries such as Claudio Roditi, Antonio Sanchez, Esperanza Spalding, Jerry Bergonzi, and Donny McCaslin. As a bandleader, he blends modern jazz with Latin and Brazilian influences through original compositions and dynamic improvisation. He teaches at both Berklee and the New England Conservatory, shaping the next generation of jazz voices.

***A note about the Zeffy donation form is below. You DO NOT have to pay a transaction fee, but must select the OTHER amount and put in $0.

We greatly appreciate Newton Spark, formerly Newton Community Pride, for kicking off our fundraising campaign with a generous grant, and The Village Bank which shares our vision for bringing great culture to the community. We are also a proud recipient of a Newton Cultural Council Grant.

Your contribution will help the Summit continue to be a world-class sustainable tradition in our city. Any amount is highly appreciated and tax-deductible.

---

In-kind donations: Videographers and Audio engineers are donating 25 – 50% of regular fees and performing artists are taking lower fees because they believe in what we are building. More than 20 volunteers help staff each season. Producing and Video editing is done entirely for free.

---