Composed over the last two years during a period of uncertainty and fear, RIOPY’s new album,
THRIVE, “represents the inner strength that pushes us to fight in moments of doubt or sorrow.”
Scheduled for release on 14 April, THRIVE comes as the pianist-composer RIOPY embarks on his first major UK tour, with ten dates in London, Bristol, Manchester, Gateshead, Leeds, Edinburgh, Bury St Edmunds, Coventry, Canterbury and Southampton between 1 and 12 February.
RIOPY came to music in an extraordinary and unusual way. Escaping to the UK following a childhood spent in an oppressive French cult, his fortunes changed when he was given an opportunity to study at Oxford Brookes University, and then gifted a Steinway piano by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who recognised his need and potential. He has since channelled his troubled past – which included drug and alcohol abuse brought on by depression and anxiety – into his music, which now serves as a source of solace to millions around the world.
RIOPY’s preceding trilogy of albums, RIOPY (2018), Tree of Light (2019) and Bliss (2021), have accumulated 600 million streams worldwide and achieved significant chart success, with more than 120 weeks for Tree of Light on the US’s Billboard classical chart.
Lana Del Rey recently announced that she has adapted one of RIOPY’s compositions. His meditative piano playing and melody will feature on a track on the American singer-songwriter’s next album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, coming March 10th. When announcing the new album, the singer thanked RIOPY “for lending me your subtle piano compositions that are infused with melodies I only wish I could dream up”. Details will be confirmed at a later date.
Following this success, THRIVE marks the beginning of a new chapter for RIOPY. It will be the first of his albums to include strings alongside his evocative and powerful pianism which has earned him an ever-increasing international following.
THRIVE is also a metaphor for RIOPY’s personal journey. Against the wishes of his cult leaders, a young RIOPY found solace in music, improvising on the piano alone as a means to escape the stress and anxiety of the real world. When he listened to classical music, RIOPY would imagine expansions of the melodies he heard. The album THRIVE was born from the same process: “One day, I was playing Satie’s famous Gymnopédie and kept expanding it and from that little seed, THRIVE was born. In taking inspiration from the greatest classical composers, I wanted to show how I interpret and shape their music in my mind.”
As well as new compositions for solo piano, the album features the composer-pianist’s take on famous music which has most inspired him, including works by Satie, Pachelbel, Beethoven, Fauré, Debussy and Chopin. He has transformed their much-loved melodies into cinematic scores of his own, and composed lush arrangements for string orchestra. He explains: “the piano has always helped me find this momentum, this inner strength, and composing for strings has opened up new horizons for me. The reinterpreted melodies on this album are a metaphor to show that everything can evolve.”
Embodying THRIVE’s spirit of growth and renewal, RIOPY has recently become an official ambassador for Restore the Music UK, a charitable organization that helps to fund music education in high socio-economic deprivation schools nationwide. RTM has partnered with his tour promoter, Serious, to offer blocks of free tickets to students and teachers benefitting from the charity’s work at his concerts in London, Manchester, Gateshead and Coventry.
The first single of THRIVE, ‘Nocturne’ is released on January 20th, with seven more released in the lead-up to the album’s release on April 14th. The album will be available digitally, on CD and on vinyl.
More information about RIOPY’s upcoming tour dates is available here, and a pre-order link is available here.
