French-English Pianist Riopy Releases New Album 'Thrive'

THRIVE, the new album from French-English composer and pianist RIOPY, is out now on Warner Classics / Warner Records.

The album features the composer-pianist's take on famous music that 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.

"We don't have to wipe the slate clean to evolve, and that's what I wanted to show," explains RIOPY. "Starting from notes or themes of classical pieces, I composed new pieces. Then I imagined string arrangements to illustrate that everything can evolve. A familiar melody rearranged and reinterpreted inevitably arouses new emotions in us. This experience also offered me great freedom in my composition and direction."

In conjunction with the record, RIOPY unveils the official video his track "Ever After" today.

In support of the new album, RIOPY will return to the U.S. in June for a select run of dates. The tour includes stops at New York's Le Poisson Rouge, Los Angeles' Teragram Ballroom, Boston's City Winery, Chicago's Old Town School and more. See full tour routing below.

THRIVE marks the beginning of a new chapter for RIOPY. It builds on the success of his trilogy of albums, RIOPY (2018), Tree of Light (2019) and Bliss (2021), which have accumulated more than half a billion streams and achieved significant chart success: Tree of Light remains near the top of the Billboard Classical chart after more than 120 weeks. THRIVE will be the first of RIOPY's albums to include strings alongside the evocative and powerful pianism which has earned the pianist-composer an ever-growing international following.

THRIVE is also a metaphor for RIOPY's personal journey. During his unique upbringing in rural France, 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 was able to listen to music, RIOPY would imagine expansions of the melodies he heard.

In addition, RIOPY's track "Flo" is featured on Lana Del Rey's acclaimed new album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Originally appearing on his 2019 album Tree of Light, "Flo" serves as the instrumental on Del Rey's "Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he's deep-sea fishing."