Stefano Bollani is an eclectic musician, to say the least. Calling him simply a musician is reductive as well. Besides his artistic career, he has written books, hosted programs on radio (with David Riondino) and television (even with Renzo Arbore, and the Rai3 program “Via dei Matti Numero 0”), acted in theater (with Claudio Bisio, Maurizio Crozza, Lella Costa, Valentina Cenni).
Musically speaking, Bollani has created an incredible variety of situations besides the piano solo formula: the piano duo (with Chick Corea but also with Martial Solal in Orvieto a few years ago), the “Danish” trio with Jesper Bodilsen and Morten Lund, Napoli Trip, L’Orchestra del Titanic, collaborations with Bill Frisell, Richard Galliano, Gato Barbieri, Lee Konitz, his long-standing partnership with Enrico Rava, the show “Abbassa la tua radio” (a tribute to Italian music of the 1930s and 1940s), a project on Frank Zappa, his debut record as a singer-songwriter “Arrivano gli Alieni”. And many more, from the collaborations with some of the most intrepid “cross-border” experimental musicians (Hector Zazou, Giovanni Sollima, Elliot Sharp) to incursions in the world of Italian songs (Elio e le Storie Tese, Samuele Bersani, Daniele Silvestri, Massimo Ranieri, Johnny Dorelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Bandabardò, Irene Grandi).
Worth mentioning is, on the one hand, his activity with classical orchestras and renowned conductors such as Daniel Harding, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly; on the other one, his Brazilian passions produced “Carioca” and “Que Bom” and collaborations with Caetano Veloso, Egberto Gismonti, Chico Buarque, Hamilton de Holanda, Joao Bosco.
