Cantabile

Francesco Negro: Francesco Negro born in Italy in 1986, is a pianist, composer and teacher. He has spent a long stretch of his life as a professional musician, performing, recording and collaborating with many artists coming from all over the world.

Gabriele di Franco is an Italian-Belgian composer, guitarist and writer based in Brussels. His music connects contemporary jazz, orchestral writing and musical theatre, with a particular interest in storytelling and collaboration. He studied jazz guitar at the Nino Rota Conservatory and composition and arranging at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. His distinctions include prizes at Jazz Comp Graz, the Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest and Scrivere in Jazz. With pianist Francesco Negro he recorded Synolon and Cantabile.

Vanesa Diaz Gil is a singer, saxophonist and composer from Lanzarote. She studied music in Tenerife, where she developed her interest in jazz and improvisation, and continued her training in Maastricht and Brussels. Her work brings together jazz, flamenco and song. She leads Grupo Zyriab, has performed with Jorge Pardo, and sings and plays saxophone with PaTi-PaMi. She is the guest vocalist on Cantabile by Gabriele di Franco and Francesco Negro.

Francesco Negro: Francesco Negro, born in Italy in 1986, is a pianist, composer and teacher. He has spent a long stretch of his life as a professional musician, performing, recording and collaborating with many artists coming from all over the world.

Gabriele di Franco is an Italian-Belgian composer, guitarist and writer based in Brussels. His music connects contemporary jazz, orchestral writing and musical theatre, with a particular interest in storytelling and collaboration. He studied jazz guitar at the Nino Rota Conservatory and composition and arranging at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. His distinctions include prizes at Jazz Comp Graz, the Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest and Scrivere in Jazz. With pianist Francesco Negro he recorded Synolon and Cantabile.

Riz Ortolani (1926-2014) was an Italian composer and conductor, best known for his film music. His international career included the score for Mondo cane and its song More, written with Nino Oliviero, alongside work for Italian and international cinema and television. His melodic writing draws on orchestral, popular and jazz idioms. Cantabile includes an arrangement of his Oh My Love.