Many may not know this, but Jorge Mejía — the executive who has been recognized for years by Billboard as a Latin music Power Player — is also an accomplished pianist and composer, with a Latin Grammy nomination under his belt.
The president and CEO of Sony Music Publishing Latin America & U.S. Latin released a new album on April 24 through Apple Music Classical, If These Walls Could Talk, recorded at Abbey Road Studios alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Ricardo Jaramillo and produced by Julio Reyes Copello. Two days later, he presented the work live at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, accompanied by the Frost Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Gerard Schwarz.
If These Walls Could Talk is more than just a piano concerto; it’s a narrative project inspired by a historic Miami Beach building constructed in 1922, where Mejía once lived.
“It’s interesting because I love writing, and if you look at the preludes, they have narratives tied to each of them. What you’re hearing is not random,” he tells Billboard Español, proceeding to explain them as he does in his performances, which are far from typical classical music concerts.
Just as he did at the Adrienne Arsht Center on Sunday (April 26), Mejía narrates the story he wrote for If These Walls Could Talk, which originated from the days he spent sitting in his old “little apartment,” wondering, “What might have happened within these walls?”
“Imagine this: in 1926, there was a hurricane that devastated the entire city, and I think only that building and two others were left standing. Later, in the 1940s, Miami Beach became a place where soldiers trained for World War II and came to recover,” he says, also mentioning the period of insecurity in the 1960s and its transition into a thriving tourist area after the 80s.
His story begins with the character of Irving Goldstein, who bought the building in the summer of 1926 without ever having seen it. “He borrowed money from his brother, his father told him he shouldn’t do it, his wife didn’t come with him. He arrived, got off the train, looked at the building, and it was exactly as he had imagined… He fell in love with the building, and for the first time in his life he felt like he had finally done something right. Three days later, the hurricane of 1926 hit, and that’s where the piece begins,” Mejía describes enthusiastically.
The second movement centers around Sofia, who was a pianist before becoming a nurse. “Her brothers were sent to war, and when they didn’t return, Sofia decided to enlist in the Red Cross,” he explains. “She was sent to Miami Beach, where she rented an apartment in the same building. Soon, she fell in love with her neighbor, a recovering soldier named Danny, but he was called back to the front lines, leaving her alone in the silence of her apartment.”
The third and final movement features Elena, who inherited the building from her father, who had been buying it apartment by apartment. “When he arrived at the building, Sofia had already been living in her apartment for 40 years,” Mejía says. “Anyway, Elena’s father passed away, and Elena inherited the building. She came intending to sell it, but she fell in love with the light, became enamored with the building, and decided to stay. Now Elena is starting to forget things a little; her memory is beginning to fade.”
In the end, Elena is forced to leave the building, and in a moment of defiance, she places her hand on the wall and says, “Woo-hoo.” Mejía explains passionately that at this moment, he gets the audience to sing along with the orchestra: “Whoo-hoo.” “A few days later, she was found with Sofia’s piano, which she had brought to her apartment. Inside the piano bench was a sheet of music: ‘If These Walls Could Talk’.”
The album If These Walls Could Talk — which will have a wider release on May 8 via Infusion/The Orchard/Sony — is divided into two parts: a piano concerto recorded in February 2024, and six sextets for string quintet and piano recorded in February 2025.
Mejía, born in Bogotá and based in Miami, has also released the albums Places for Piano & Strings (2021) and An Open Book: 25 Preludes for Piano and Orchestra (2018), the latter of which earned him a Latin Grammy nomination in best contemporary classical composition category, for “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra.”
As he balances his job as an executive with his career as a musician, Mejía — who studied piano in college and entered the industry 30 years ago through an internship at Sony Music — says he keeps both roles separate but acknowledges that his artistic sensitivity helps him understand other artists: “It’s all part of the same path, which is truly a path dedicated to music.”
