Francesco Turrisi
“His ability to rework ancient melodies and rhythms through a contemporary jazz prism marks Turrisi out as one of the most striking voices to have emerged on the European jazz scene in the past decade.” – Jazz Times
Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi has been defined a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. Turrisi is as equally at home playing with jazz veterans Dave Liebman and Bill Frisell as he is with Irish traditional sean-nós singer Roisin El Safty and with tarantella specialist Lucilla Galeazzi. He has toured with Bobby McFerrin, played baroque operas with ensemble L’Arpeggiata, toured with The Silk Road ensemble, interpreted the music of Steve Reich with Bang on a Can All Stars, accompanied flamenco star Pepe El Habichuela and Greek singer Savina Yannatou. Turrisi has released five critically acclaimed albums as a leader and two as co-leader. He released his latest piano solo album, Northern Migrations, in 2018. For the last five years Turrisi has collaborated with Grammy and Pulitzer prize winning singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, on a duo project that seamlessly combines music from the Mediterranean with music from the African diaspora in the Americas. In 2019 Giddens and Turrisi released their critically acclaimed duo album there is no Other.
The album single “I’m On My Way” was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. Their second duo album, They’re Calling Me Home (2020) was nominated for two Grammy awards and won as Best Folk album at the 2022 Grammy awards.
