The musician, composer and YouTube pioneer performs 4 commissioned works as part of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s Spring and Summer Festival. 

Nahre Sol is one of the most intriguing and inquisitive artists making and thinking about music today.

The pianist and composer shares her talent and knowledge through informative, entertaining and incisive YouTube videos, which demonstrate not only her technical prowess, theory chops and distinctive original compositions, but also her boundless enthusiasm for all things music. 

“I guess you could consider it drive but it's more like me being antsy,” says Sol from her home in California when asked about her musical curiosity. “I would start learning about a new genre or a certain topic and I would get very immersed in it, and then I would very quickly feel antsy about looking somewhere else.” 

The classically trained, Julliard and Glenn Gould School educated pianist notes that this “antsy” quality is both a “blessing and a curse.” 

“It allows me to explore many new things but it’s hard to stick to one thing and really go deep,” explains Sol. 

Originally started as a way to keep her family and friends updated on musical studies away from home, Sol’s YouTube page does indeed take a deep, extensive look at all things music. From “Exercises That Improve Your Coordination Without Stressing You Out” to “Bebop, As Digested by a Classical Musician” to “Bach Invention, Reinvented with Synthesizers”, Sol’s channel has earned her a massive online following of more than 400,000 subscribers and millions of views. 

But, as the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra is quick to point out: “Labelling Nahre a YouTube musician would however be selling her short. Her educational videos are interspersed with acrobatic improvisations and marvellous original music.”

Commissioned by the MCO, Nahre Sol presents 4 original works as part of the Spring and Summer Festival. Written for prepared piano as well as electronic keyboard, they showcase Sol’s penchant for melody, mood and marvellous sense of pianism. 

After first discussing and completing a work for piano and orchestra—which will be performed in person by Sol and the MCO at a later date—the conversation turned to solo pieces for the online festival.

“I’ve been really interested in prepared piano so I felt particularly inspired in this moment to lean into that,” says Sol. Pioneered by composer John Cage, the “prepared piano” has an altered sound by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings.

“I just really like certain sounds that are a bit muted or percussive,” explains Sol, who used silicon to alter the sound of her piano. 

Watch Nahre Sol’s performance until Thursday, June 10 by purchasing a $20 household streaming ticket through www.themco.ca 

Learn more about Sol’s fascination with sound, her thoughts on the future of concertizing, and how she would describe her own musical style in the full conversation below!