Pianist Christina Sochor, 23, will soon take the stage in Honolulu to share a debut album release concert, featuring songs that include jazz fusion arrangements of video game music.
Her debut album, “Not a Phone in Sight,” was recorded on Hawaiʻi Island and launched on Oct. 6. It is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and YouTube. She will perform music from that album with Abe Lagrimas Jr. and Dean Taba at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Blue Note Hawaiʻi.
“It's jazz and jazz fusion arrangements of video game music,” she told Aloha State Daily. “So music from Pokémon, Zelda, Mario, Animal Crossing — video games that I grew up with.”
Some are more traditional jazz songs while others are more Latin or avant-garde, said the classically trained pianist — who has lived in Hawaiʻi for about three years and calls Mōʻiliʻili home.
When she took up playing piano, she quickly learned how to play video game music.
“I was a classical pianist for a long time growing up [in South Florida],” she added. “I did piano competitions, classical piano contests, Steinway contests, and all that stuff before moving to jazz. So, this just seems like a perfect unification of all those disciplines — using the music that originally inspired me to play.”
Sochor has been performing in classical piano competitions since she was 10 years old. Later, she joined a cruise ship as its traveling pianist before eventually settling in Hawaiʻi.
She recently signed with the national label Game Chops, which specializes in video game remixes and covers. The record label reached out to her and asked for a phone call interview after she posted covers of video game music on Instagram, where she has 13,800 followers.
“And then I put together the entire project before the phone call interview,” she said. “I was like, ʻOK, these are the songs I want to do. These are the musicians. This is the cost of the album.’ And he was like, ʻOK, you got it organized. We'll give you the funding to put this project together.’ ”
That conversation happened in early December of 2025. The music for her debut album was recorded in February, which means Sochor wrote and rehearsed everything in less than three months.
Seating for her Blue Note Hawaiʻi headliner debut is first-come, first-served. Tickets start at $20. Get tickets. Follow Sochor on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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