For the seventh time, Till Brönner invites us to a rendezvous with his “Piano Friends.” This exclusive format, in which the eminent trumpeter presents some of his favorite pianists, has become a beloved annual tradition at the Ruhr Piano Festival. This year he presents two artists who have a certain affinity with classical music. Apart from his own projects as leader, Rainer Böhm is a member of bassist Dieter Ilg’s jazz trio, which has been featuring contemporary jazz arrangements of classical music over the past years; the trio has already presented its astounding new interpretations of Verdi’s Otello and of works by Beethoven at the Ruhr Piano Festival. Israeli pianist Yaron Herman moved to Boston in his youth, then to Paris: for many years he has been regarded as one of the major artists on the European jazz scene. Starting in the early 2000s, Herman recorded ten albums, all of them featuring top-notch rhythm combos or eminent duo partners. His eleventh album was recently released: “Alma,” a solo piano recording with borrowings not only from jazz, but also from Classical piano music ranging from Bach to Chopin and Fauré. The twist here is that absolutely everything is improvised – or, to put it differently, composed in real time.