About

Mario Mattia is an improvisational pianist and New England Conservatory graduate whose music draws on a lifetime immersed in classical, jazz, progressive rock, non-tonal modernism, and ambient music. His wide constellation of influences—Bach to Bartók, Ella to Jarrett, King Crimson to Brian Eno—shapes an approach that is entirely spontaneous, never pre-planned, and rooted in deep listening. Early in his career he founded and composed for the progressive rock ensemble Möbius, scored films for Rhode Island PBS and Bradley Hospital, and taught piano, composition, and theory. Over time, improvisation became his primary musical language.

My latest release, Approaching Hyperion, consists of two tracks …Approaching Hyperion and Agape Warmth. They were improvised in my electronic studio twenty-four hours apart before and after a tragic occurrence. They are laments conveying the haunting sadness I felt.

A prior release, Project 45 is a 14+minute pure improvisation—a single take that rises from stillness, surges into controlled chaos, and returns to quiet. Tonal and non-tonal energies collide and transform, forging a narrative that draws the listener deeply inward. With focused, repeated listening, the piece’s architecture emerges, felt as much as heard.

For the past two decades, Mattia has devoted himself to refining a uniquely personal improvisatory voice: intimate, exploratory, and unconcerned with genre boundaries. Working from his rural woodland studio, he records with close mic placement and a meticulously tuned and voiced piano to capture every harmonic nuance—from warm consonance to upper-partial dissonance. Each performance is an extemporaneous journey, a real-time improv shaped only by the moment. His hope is that these improvisations, in all their tonal, non-tonal, and freeform possibilities, offer listeners a compelling and deeply immersive musical experience. Contact: improvpianist@gmail.com