Lorin Xavier Rivers Bio Music is the great unifier of people. Lorin Xavier Rivers has seen and lived by this mantra for as long as he can remember. Rivers is a 22-year-old pianist for Columbus, Ohio. He has always had a great love for music and all things with a keyboard. Organs and synthesizers, however the piano is his great love. Growing up in Columbus, Rivers was surrounded by many musical influences. From playing at church, to all of the great records that were always being played by his mother at home, to the rich tradition of musicians from Columbus coming back to town to play. He from a very early age started playing the things he heard at the piano, but started formal lessons at the university when he was 7. Those lessons however always found him in trouble because his teacher would give him the classics to play but he would always come back with his own variations. Growing up and playing in church gave Rivers a deep love of the lush harmonies that he always heard and the beautiful, overarching melodies that always moved him. But even more so than this, the way people reacted to the music is what fascinated him. It made people dance, cry, and shout. And that was even more amazing. Music is one of the few forces on earth that can take people from such different walks of life and in those few minutes, they are completely together. “Music is the great unifier of people,” says Rivers. “It is the closest that humans can get to God and perfection. In an increasingly imperfect world and the conflicts going on all over the world, I hope to portray this unity and beauty in my music.”