Peter Calandra is a prolific composer and keyboard player whose solo albums are wonderfully diverse, spanning world music, jazz, contemporary jazz, new age, pop, and neo-classical. 

His new piece “The Gambit” is a beautiful and heartfelt tribute to Keith Jarrett that showcases Calandra's talent as a composer and keyboard player.

The track is a beautiful and calming piano piece that captures the expressive musical lyricism of Calandra's compositions and the purity and purposefulness of his musicianship. 

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/7uB7woLshg3RCwja5NeIaI?si=979012228c4c4db3

In addition to his solo work, Calandra has composed music for over 100 films and written over 2,000 compositions for television. He has scored for major television networks and composed the FIFA World Cup theme for FOX Sports, the Special Olympics World Games and Invictus Games theme for ESPN, and the Kennedy Center Honors on CBS from 2015 to 2020. He has also composed the music for several award-winning films, including Jellysmoke and Unknown Soldier.

     Composer Peter Calandra’s fourth solo work, Inner Circle, consists of 13 tracks filled with, as is his speciality, compositions that are solely instrumental. Calandra’s talent and skill are enormous, and what he does with that aptitude proves his musical capacity early on. Calandra utilizes an entire orchestra within his music, which provides a vast expanse of sound. And in many cases, Calandra has set up his compositions in ways that make them sound like deep, lofty conversations between his piano and stringed instruments.

     After giving each of these songs even a single listen, it becomes easy to imagine them in a Hollywood movie or in a Broadway musical. It’s amazing how much vibrance and character can be created through sounds created by instruments alone. Each of these instrumentals tells a story, but what’s so unique about that story is that it’s up to each listener to create that narrative while they’re listening to it. “Clyde and the Pearl” sounds like shooting stars flashing across the sky, whereas “Whispers in the Dark” sounds more like tiny ballerinas dancing in synchronicity after a music box has been wound.

     “Better Angels” is one of the softest songs on the release. He wrote it using only two pianos, and it’s as if this song is a quiet conversation between these two pianos. Similarly to this conversation, Calandra does a wonderful job of portraying conflicts within his tracks. You could easily imagine “Faith,” for example, being used for a play in which a character is severely torn about a difficult decision they’re being faced with.

     In the world of composing and scoring, Peter Calandra is a force to be reckoned with. Within his career thus far, he has written scores for films, compositions for television broadcasts, and has served as a musician in Broadway productions. On top of that, Inner Circle marks his fourth solo release as a musician. He is able to take the listener on extravagant highs and plummeting lows through the beautiful work he creates with his instruments. This guy has a knack for creativity that he should be incredibly proud of.

  Review by Alec Cunningham

"After a difficult day, Paolo rushed from the American offices in Torino, climbing up the hills to Montgenevre just over the French border. Phone dead, car stopping and starting, navigating road construction, he was going to be late for their anniversary dinner at their Palazzo."