Pianist Marina Baranova looks at Christmas through the eyes of an outsider. “I was born into a Jewish family in Ukraine and am the great-granddaughter of a rabbi. So I’ve never celebrated Christmas before, which allows me to look at it from the outside.” On her new album “White Letters” she makes her experiences audible. “This album reflects those sensations.” In her unique musicality, which combines light-fingered virtuosity with compositional sensitivity, she creates a world between Christian melodies, Ukrainian winter tunes and Jewish festival of lights sounds. All works oscillate between original, sensitive arrangement and free improvisation.

The musician feels home in the space between the classical piano repertoire and her own modern classical compositions, both discographically and in concerts. The fact that she now allows such a personal musical look at her origins is also due to the current situation. “I return inwardly to my then peaceful home, the landscape outside covered with snow and inside warmed with parental love.”