ward-winning composer Tom Donald grew up in rural Australia, where, he says, “There was plenty of time as a kid to just sit for hours and play piano.” He started playing at the age of three, just “sitting there and making things up. I suppose you could call it improvising.”
As Donald’s talent for music became clear, however, those early improvisational instincts were set to one side and he embarked upon a course of formal training that lasted many years. He was studying classical piano and weighing it against the possibility of becoming a composer when he first heard the piece of music that changed the direction of his professional and personal life, The Vienna Concert by Keith Jarrett.
American jazz and classical pianist and composer Keith Jarrett started his award-winning career playing with such greats as Art Blakey and Miles Davis. A master of improvisation, drawing on genres from classical to ethnic folk, Jarrett’s improvised album The Koln Concert, recorded in 1975, is one of the biggest selling piano recordings ever.
