Life & Work with Meredi of Silver Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredi

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a composer, pianist and produce. I was born in Berlin, Germany to a German mother and an Armenian diaspora father from Iran.
I play the piano since I remember. Growing up I always had this crazy amount of music in my head, just composing itself. It was too loud to ignore, and I only learned how to read music to write my own pieces down. I was six when I began taking piano lessons and, after I embarked on a classical music education, winning awards for my compositions by the age of 13 and seeing my first orchestral pieces performed when still in my teens. In 2020, I released Stardust, my debut solo album – deemed, among other accolades, one of BBC Music Magazine’s Top 10 Post-Classical Albums of 2020 – with Trance following in 2021, and there’s also been work for theatre, ballet, TV and film, as well as collaborations with, among others, Robert Ames and Tara Nome Doyle. In addition, ‘White Flowers Take Their Bath’, written for Deutsche Grammophon violinist Mari Samuelsen’s Lys, has approached over 9 million global streams.

 If, however, I had little cause to look back in recent years, I began nevertheless to look further afield. Indeed, my 2022’s remix collection, Some Other Place, is about wishing yourself far away. I felt an ill-defined restlessness, a sense I wasn’t where I should be, and knew I needed to resolve this. As it happens, this sensation of not knowing where I belonged wasn’t entirely unfamiliar: though I remain equally at ease in conventional venues, I preferred performing in unlikely spaces, from galleries and clubs to electronic festivals, even Berlin Fashion Week, since early on in my recording career. My music, after all, isn’t entirely conformist: although I’m drawn heavily on my classical piano training, there are other forces at play, including a determination to employ electronic sources alongside more established instrumentation. It’s something that people say, makes my music both contemporary and timeless, but from the start I always been driven by my heart.
My music is played on several radio stations such as BR-Klassik, Klassik Radio, Flux FM or Scala Radio UK, KEXP Radio US.
I give concerts in prestigious places like ‚Tigran Art Studio‘ (Armenia), ‚Zenner‘, ‚Silent Green‘, ‚’Meadows in the Mountains’ (Bulgaria), Monopol‘ (Berlin), or the ‚Berlin Fashion Week’. I was the first artist ever to give a concert in the Santa Prisca church in Taxco, Mexico.
I moved from Berlin to Los Angeles in winter 2023, to explore the infinity of this city and its people. I came here to make my music grow and eventually go to space.
Since June 2024, I am exclusively signet to the Deutsche Grammophon, with whom I just released my new mini-album Flourish.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Let’s say I’ve cried a lot already—both from happiness and from the overwhelming experience of immigrating into a new culture. I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a city that treats you in such extreme ways. However, I’m a Sagittarius and this big adventure makes me fly, also I’m unbelievably grateful for everything I learn.

Coming from Germany, where there is often a limited mindset, I feel free, accepted, and seen in LA. Also, coming from a background in very conservative classical music, I find that people here are more open-minded and appreciative of my music. They don’t categorize me or try to change me.

I came here to tell stories from Europe. I came here for the endless opportunities, and now I see them.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a German/Armenian internationally acclaimed composer, producer and pianist based in Berlin and Los Angeles. My classically training as a composer and performer stands for a new understanding of composition – I specialized in creating beautiful, catchy, longing melodies. While surprising with experimental, contemporary creations.
My music is spreading worldwide since I released my first album Stardust in 2020.
 I have been playing the piano for as long as I can remember. I always had this crazy amount of music in my head, just composing itself. It was too loud to ignore, and I only learned how to read music to write my own pieces down, I embarked on a classical music education, winning awards for my compositions by the age of 13 and seeing my first orchestral pieces performed when still in my teens. In 2020, I released Stardust, my debut solo album – deemed, among other accolades, one of BBC Music Magazine’s Top 10 Post-Classical Albums of 2020 – with Trance following in 2021, and my 2022’s remix collection, Some Other Place, is about wishing yourself far away. I am also composing music for theatre, ballet, TV and film, as well as collaborations with, among others, Robert Ames and Tara Nome Doyle. In addition, ‘White Flowers Take Their Bath’, written for Deutsche Grammophon violinist Mari Samuelsen’s Lys, has approached over 9 million global streams.
I think what makes my art different, is my constant feeling an ill-defined restlessness. As sensation of not knowing where I belong. This made me travel the world, perform in unlikely spaces, from galleries and clubs to electronic festivals, even Berlin Fashion Week, since early on in my recording career. My music, after all, isn’t entirely conformist: although I’m drawn heavily on my classical piano training, there are other forces at play, including a determination to employ electronic sources alongside more established instrumentation. It’s something that makes my music both contemporary and timeless, but from the start I’ve always been driven by my heart.
My music is played on several radio stations such as BR-Klassik, Klassik Radio, Flux FM or Scala Radio UK, KEXP Radio US. I give concerts in prestigious places like ‚Tigran Art Studio‘ (Armenia), ‚Zenner‘, ‚Silent Green‘, ‚Monopol‘ (Berlin), or the ‚Berlin Fashion Week’, ‘Meadows in the Mountains’ (Bulgaria). I was the first artist ever to give a concert in the Santa Prisca church in Taxco, Mexico. Since June 2024 I am signed exclusively with the Deutsche Grammophon and already released my first EP with them.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
If it were up to me, I would only communicate through music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.meredi.de
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meredi/?hl=de
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Meredi.composer/
• Twitter: https://x.com/meredi__
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCExmNdK7F_4MWBW6nMwcjdw

Image Credits
Carla Louise Domènech
Josephine Binder