Released Today: Chick Corea's 'The Visitors' Recorded at the 2012 Gilmore International Piano Festival

ECM RECORDS RELEASES CHICK COREA’S THE VISITORS RECORDED AT THE 2012 GILMORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL

featuring performances by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Kirill Gerstein, winner of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award

KALAMAZOO, MI (June 12, 2025) — Dr. Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic Director of The Gilmore, announced today the premiere release of The Visitors, a Chick Corea duet work written for vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Kirill Gerstein — two masters of their instruments and in their respective fields. Commissioned by Gerstein (2010 Gilmore Artist) with funding from The Gilmore and co-commissioned by Berklee College of Music, The Fine Family Foundation, Karlsons & Associates, LLC, Tom and Donna Lambert, and Peter and Libby Seaver in memory of Patricia Holmes Clark, The Visitors was premiered by Burton and Gerstein at the 2012 Gilmore International Piano Festival and recorded in front of a live audience. On what would have been Chick Corea’s 84th birthday, June 12, 2025, ECM releases this newly discovered recording as a digital-only single available on all major online retailers and at https://ecm.lnk.to/TheVisitors.

The 12-minute piece blends classical and jazz languages seamlessly: some sections are fully written-out, others partially improvised, and others entirely open to the interpreters’ in-the-moment inspiration. Vibraphone and piano conspire in graceful interplay throughout, navigating rowdy ostinatos and subtle counterpoint in the process. Burton and Gerstein only recently rediscovered this recording of The Gilmorepremiere in 2012, after which Manfred Eicher and Gerstein mixed the piece in Munich, in Spring 2025. 

“Composing this duet piece for Kirill and Gary was a happy challenge. To have a pianist of Kirill's accomplishment play my written piano notes inspired me to compose. I thank him for the opportunity. The Visitors is constructed in small sections with a final section that vamps, jazz-style, over a piano ostinato. I wrote it so that there would always be a choice of whether to play the written notes exactly as written or play variations of the phrasings. I conjured encounters with unfamiliar phenomena and wrote a kind of "soundtrack" to that idea. Of course, one could also think of it as their "next door neighbors". These concepts are always open for wide interpretation. Here's to freedom in music.”
- Chick Corea, composer (March 2012) 

“With Chick no longer with us, and Gary now retired, this is a singular document—both musically and personally meaningful.”

- Kirill Gerstein, pianist

The Gilmore’s Legacy of Commissioning New Works

The Gilmore has a distinguished history of commissioning new works, continuing its mission to support the creation and performance of new music for the piano. Over the years, the Gilmore International Piano Festival has become known for its commitment to expanding the repertoire through significant commissions from renowned composers. The Gilmore has commissioned, on its own and via Gilmore Artists and Gilmore Young Artists Award funds, more than 40 new works from composers including Matthew Aucoin, Michael Brown, Elliott Carter, Christopher Cerrone, Michael Gordon, Stephen Hough, Oliver Knussen, Brad Mehldau, Nico Muhly, Frederick Rzewski, and Tyshawn Sorey, among many others.     

The Gilmore   
Created in 1989 to honor the legacy of businessman and philanthropist Irving S. Gilmore, The Gilmore is the premier institution in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing and awarding extraordinary piano artistry. The GILMORE has presented 16 piano festivals, commissioned over 40 new works for piano, and awarded over $3 million as part of its internationally renowned Gilmore Artists Award for classical pianists. During the 2025-26 season, The GILMORE will announce the winners of its inaugural Larry J. Bell Artists Awards for jazz pianists and present its annual (previously biennial) Gilmore Piano Festival. Based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, The GILMORE continues to impact the lives of thousands of area children and adults through its year-round community engagement and music education programs including summer camps, music therapy, and much more. thegilmore.org 

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