FRANCESCO TURRISI "GRIGIO"

Francesco Turrisi has been defined a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. He left his native Italy in 1997 to study jazz piano and early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he obtained a Bachelor and a Master’s degree. Since 2004 he has been collaborating with celebrated early music ensemble L’Arpeggiata. With l’Arpeggiata he has performed at the major early music festivals in Europe and around the world (Turkey, Russia, China) and has recorded for Virgin, Naive and Alpha.Francesco is also the leader and founder of many successful Irish and International groups that experiment pushing the boundaries of contemporary jazz, world music and early music, such as Sarabanda, Tarab, T.R.E., Zahr.He has released two piano trio albums, “Si dolce e’ il Tormento” (“an arresting and consistently beautiful work”,All about Jazz), and “Fotografia” (“lyricism of aching beauty lies embedded throughout Fotografia”All about jazz).He is also the founder of Tarab (a band that experiments with Irish traditional and mediterranean music). Tarab’s first cd was released in 2011 on Francesco’s label (Taquin records) and the Irish Times commented “Not perhaps since Andy Irvine’s celebrated East Wind in 1992 has there been such a convincing reorientation of the Irish tradition.”.His vast range of collaborations includes artists from jazz, world and early music such as:Bobby McFerrin, Dave Liebman, Gianluigi Trovesi, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Gabriele Mirabassi, Savina Yannatou, Christine Tobin, Maria Pia de Vito, Theodosii Spassov, The King’s Singers, Veronique Gens, Philippe Jaroussky, Pepe el Habichuela, Lucilla Galeazzi, Bijan Chemirani. FRANCESCO TURRISI