João Barradas (accordion)

In fact, while it’s the mission of the ECHO series to bring you the major artists of tomorrow, Barradas is something of a superstar already. Determined to rewrite the rules about what an accordion can do, he moves with effortless style between the worlds of jazz, classical, folk and improv.

But the mood today is unmistakably classical, ranging from the timeless clarity and invention of the European baroque – with transcriptions by Bach and Scarlatti – to one of the true classics of the Latin repertoire, Astór Piazzolla’s masterly tango through the four seasons of Buenos Aires. And French maverick Yann Robin has composed something specially for him: we don’t yet know what it sounds like, but we do know that it’ll be compelling.