Francesco Grillo is a classical pianist and composer who studied at the Milan Conservatory and went on to the Academies of Imola and Cremona. Francesco is from a family with deep-rooted musical traditions and began composing as a child, his early models being the great Romantics (Chopin and Liszt), followed by the great composers of Russia (Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev) and France (Ravel, first and foremost). Francesco’s passion for Jazz and, in particular, great pianists such as Bill Evans and Bud Powell, led him to develop his own, very personal, composition style which draws from both traditions (Classical and Jazz) in an effective combination of two seemingly distant worlds. Francesco has performed in many European countries as well as the United States, Japan and Mexico and taken part in the opening ceremony of the European figure skating championships in Milan (broadcast live throughout Europe), playing his preludes which were then included in his first album of his own compositions. HighBall, released by Universal in 2011, features complex and highly lyrical music in original tracks for solo piano as well as three duets with the pianist Stefano Bollani. In 2012, once again with Universal, he released the record Otto, an album of original Jazz pieces produced in collaboration with exceptional musicians such as trumpeter Enrico Rava, clarinettist Nico Gori, Israeli percussionist Asaf Sirkis, vibraphonist Andrea Dulbecco and double bassist Yuri Goloubev.