Rest in peace, Richie Beirach. *23.5.1947 +26.1.2026

We mourn Richie Beirach, a quiet giant of the piano—within jazz and far beyond its boundaries. For more than five decades, Beirach enriched the vocabulary of jazz in his American homeland: with more than 70 albums, and through compositions that became part of the jazz standards repertoire. 

As a long-serving professor at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig, he influenced an entire generation of young jazz musicians in Germany. 

On his four albums for ACT, Beirach—together with violinist Gregor Hübner—revealed a lesser-known facet of his artistry: an extraordinary improvisational sensitivity in engaging with classical compositions by Béla Bartók, Federico Mompou, and Claudio Monteverdi. 

With Richie Beirach, the jazz world loses one of its most significant pianists and a truly unique personality. 

Richie Beirach on ACT: 

Richie Beirach, Gregor Hübner & George Mraz „Round About Bartók” (1999) 

Richie Beirach, Gregor Hübner & George Mraz “Round About Federico Mompou” (2001) 

Richie Beirach, Gregor Hübner und George Mraz „Round About Monteverdi“ (2003) 

Richie Beirach & Gregor Hübner with Randy Brecker, George Mraz, Billy Hart “Live at Birdland New York“ (2017)