Other life: Managing director, who has released two classical piano albums, is already preparing his third
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Kurt Reiman, BlackRock’s managing director and senior strategist for North America, has just launched his second classical piano album, but he’s already working on the next one.
“I’m not sure there’s much I can say about the markets to calm people’s nerves,” he told Wealth Professional. “But, at least I have an album that I can share with them!”
Reiman, who has been playing piano since he was six and is primarily self-trained, composes instrumental music for the piano that he describes as contemporary classical – though he noted that those familiar with it say that, because he isn’t classically trained, he’s often more innovative.
“It’s a little outside the box,” he said, adding that it’s inspirational and even sounds a bit new age.
Reiman’s first album, North Maple Road, was released in September 2018. His second, A Glimpse of Grace, was released in September and he had a launch party in New York last month with colleagues also live streaming in from Montreal and Toronto. While the songs are primarily instrumental, there are some woodwinds and strings on the second album, plus one song with lyrics that he surprised his wife with at their wedding 20 years ago. The album is available on Amazon, Spotify, and Apple and “everywhere” you can download music, he said.
Reiman has been composing music since he was a child and says some of the songs on the second album have been with him for 40 years. He composed the first one in high school, and said, “I do it because I am compelled. I don’t have a choice. It’s really that simple.”
He’s always found pianos wherever he’s gone – at school, university, and even in airport lounges. But, when the pandemic began and he was working from home, he had a piano keyboard near his computer monitor, so could take breaks and noodle on it.
Reiman enjoys creating the music, then taping and developing it over time, knowing it’s a keeper if it becomes his ear worm. He also enjoys working with other musicians and producing the albums.
He said composing and playing music “makes me better at what I do” because it helps him balance his personal and professional life. It helps him relax and decompress from his high-pressure day job. But, it also allows him to share stories with other creative colleagues who have been painting, singing in a barbershop quarter, or creating electronic dance music.
“It’s a nice way to share the richness of our lives behind what could otherwise be a seemingly monochromatic person who focuses only on finance,” said Reiman, quickly adding that he’s just as passionate about his financial work as he is music and couldn’t imagine doing only one or the other.
“I want to be the inspiration for other people who have a creative side who may have decided, at one point in their life, to give it up – and who knows why? It may be that there’s just not the time or there’s not the money or there’s a particular fear of it not being good enough,” said Reiman.
“I want to be that bright light for people and say, ‘you can do this. You can have an enriched professional life, but also enrich others with your creativity, too'.”
