Exchange alumnus revisited CBS’ grand piano

Jesse Schwartz is a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from California Polytechnic State University. After his graduation in 2010, his career led him to becoming Director of Sales, specializing in cloud technology, complex sales cycles and building/maintaining relationships with key decision makers. 

Apart from his professional work, he also maintains a very passionate relationship with another type of keys… along with notes on the piano. Jesse Schwartz is a semi-professional pianist and composer, having performed on the piano for the last seven years and promoted himself through his website, Piano Jukebox, since 2010. He even has an album, Chillectro, out on Spotify and iTunes.

On Wednesday 16 August 2017, he sat down at the grand piano in Solbjerg Plads’ largest auditorium after nine years absence and played for two hours while a spontaneous crowd meandered in from Solbjerg Plads’ lobby, attracted by the music. 

Reconnecting with CBS and the grand piano after nine years

- When I was on exchange here at CBS in 2008, I noticed this grand piano not being used in the big auditorium and started getting the janitor to unlock it, so I could play before – and sometimes after – classes. It was brilliant, says Jesse Schwartz, who considers his exchange semester at CBS and time in Copenhagen one of the best decisions he made during his four years of undergraduate studies, and continues:

- It’s kind of surrealistic to be back in Copenhagen – everything is the same, everything is different. I decided to reach out and get in touch with CBS to see if I could get a session at the grand piano, while I was here. I was very pleased with how well maintained and tuned the piano was.

Jesse plays covers and his own original tunes by ear only – he had piano lessons as a child, but does not read sheet music. He keeps up his piano practice in airports, libraries, bars, restaurants, hotels, pharmacies (“that one was in Portugal”) – wherever he can get access to a piano while travelling the world ”following the sun” and working remote. 

See CBS Wire video and interview with Jesse Schwartz.

Jesse Schwartz has also written a contribution to 'My CBS Story' on CBS' centenary website. Read Jesse's 'My CBS Story' here. If you have a story about yourself and CBS that you would like to share, we invite you to send it to cbs100@cbs.dk along with a picture of yourself.