Bio
Gabriele di Franco, born in Italy and currently residing in Brussels is a European composer, creator, and guitarist.
He defines himself as an ambiguous composer and guitar player; living that undefined space between jazz, classical, and world music, focusing on deepness and consciousness in the process of making choices, or in other words: composing.
He has spent a long stretch of his life as a professional musician; composing, performing, and recording with many artists coming from all over the world. (Bud Powell Jazz Orchestra- IT, KugJazzOrchester-AUS, Stefan Gottfried-AUS, Marcello Allulli-IT, Andy Middleton US, Wen-Hui Tsai-TW, Joao Sousa-PT, Raul Santana-ES, Francesco Negro-IT, Marco Puzzello-IT, Poem Vocal Band-TW, etc..)
His experience as a composer ranges from Jazz Orchestras, small jazz ensembles, solo instruments (jazz and classical), modern jazz choirs, music-theatre, and mixed classical and jazz ensembles.
Gabriele graduated in 2014 with a major in Jazz guitar at the Conservatory of Nino Rota (IT) with an additional year of study at the renowned Musik und Kunst Privatunisität der Stadt Wien (AUS).
He holds a Master in Jazz Composition & Arranging from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB), where he studied with composers such as Kris Defoort, Lode Mertens, Peter Swinnen.
Gabriele has received several international awards and honours for his works.
In 2012 he won the “Band Revelation of the year” prize at Jazzup Festival (Frosinone – IT) with his project Bija. That same year, he was also the finalist of the “Tiberio Nicola Award 12” and at the “Jimmy Wood Award”.
He also achieved the podium at “International Fara Jazz Contest 2014” (IT) and at “International Jazz Competition of Bucharest 2015” (RO) with the Mynah trio; the “Brussels Jazz Marathon 2016” (BE) together with his band Rubiks; the 1st prize at “Multiculturita Black Music Contest 2017” (IT) and the “Audience Price” at Sibiu Jazz festival 2017 (RO) with Bija.
In 2017 Gabriele won the SIAE (Italian Copyright Company) scholarship for authors under 35.
Again, in November 2017, he won the 2nd prize at the three-year competition “Jazz Comp Graz 2017” for Jazz Orchestra composers under 30 (jury: Ed Partyka, John Hollenbeck, Michael Abene, and Jörg Achim Keller).
In February 2018, Gabriele is the only composer from all Belgian conservatories to be selected to lead the masterclass with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Jazz Orchestra at BOZAR in Brussels.
In September 2018, Gabriele got selected as a residency artist for the Bijloke Summer Academy (partners: LOD music theatre, Music Centre De Bijloke, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) & Royal Conservatory Ghent, SPECTRA Ensemble and JazzLab).
In June 2019 Gabriele won the “Elevator Jazz Pitch” presenting his music-theatre project LULELA. The inCentive was supported by inJazz (NL) and berthold records (DE).
From October 2016 till March 2020, Gabriele has worked as composer, arranger and conductor for the Italian big band Bud Powell Jazz Orchestra.
In June 2021, his composition ‘Berlin‘ was awarded 3rd prize at the “Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest” (organized by UMO jazz orchestra – jury memebers: Bob Mintzer, Ed Partyka, Antti Rissanen, and Iro Haarla).
December 2021, Gabriele was selected for the project European Composers by the Subway Jazz Orchestra of Cologne. For this occasion gabriele was commissioned to write a new composition for big band: Ispira (Inhale)
Currently, Gabriele is working on his first participative music-theatre project “LULELA”: a multi-layered jazz concert with storytelling where the destiny of the protagonist (and the whole performance) is in the hands of the audience.
For LULELA (produced by LODmuziektheater) Gabriele composed music, text, and dramaturgy.
In January 2021 the text of the music-theatre project LULELA, was also published as a book by Albatros il Filo (more info at: LULELA il Libro).
Teaching is also one of Gabriele’s passions. Having taught for many years, he encourages his students to see beyond the music. Showing how improvisational knowledge and technique combined with compositional knowledge is a key asset to be a good musician.
DISCOGRAPHY
SYNOLON Gabriele di Franco // Francesco Negro – (Workin’ Label – IT 2022)
QUIET DRAMS Ramon van Merkenstein trio – (homerecords – BE 2021)
DREAMIN’ Q-some Big Band – (Caramel Records – BE 2020)
EP Tesseract trio – (auto production – BE 2020)
DEDALO Bud Powell Jazz Orchestra – (Ass. Cult. Jazz Bud Powell – IT 2018)
SO FAR Gottfried di Franco – (Sena Production – NL 2018)
INTRO Mynah – (Emme Record Label – IT 2015)
BIJA Bija – (Slam production – UK 2014)
BOOKS
Lulela – il Libro (Albatros il Filo – IT 2021)
AWARDS
“3rd prize” – Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest – “Berlin” (Big Band Composition/Arrangement) (2021)
Finalist at Barga Jazz International Jazz Orchestra Composing Contest – “Berlin” (Big Band Composition/Arrangement) (2021)
“Elevator Jazz Pitch” – injazz.nl – berthold rec – LULELA (2019)
“Second best Composer” – Jazz Comp Graz – “Aspetta” (Big Band Composition/Arrangement) (2017)
“SIAE” scholarship for authors and composers under 35 (2017)
“Audience Award” – Sibiu Jazz Contest – Bija (2017)
“Black Music Contest” – Multiculturita – Bija (2017)
“Band Revelation Of The Year” – Jazzup – Bija (2012)
“Soundslice” – Bija (2012)