Stefano Bollani (born 5 December 1972) is an Italian composer, pianist and singer, also active as a writer and a television presenter.

Stefano Bollani
Background information
Born	(1972-12-05)5 December 1972 (age 52) Milan, Italy[1]
Genres	Jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Philology,Stunt,ECM,Decca,Universal,Label Bleu
Website	stefanobollani.com

He has worked with such musicians asGato Barbieri,Chick Corea,Bill Frisell,Sol Gabetta,Richard Galliano,Trilok Gurtu,Chuco Valdes,Egberto Gismonti,Lee Konitz,Bobby McFerrin,Pat Metheny,Caetano Veloso,Phil Woods,Hector Zazou and has recorded more than 15 albums with trumpeterEnrico Rava. Bollani has performed with several symphonic orchestras (Filarmonica della Scala,Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia,Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,Orchestre de Paris,Toronto Symphony Orchestra, among others) and with directors such asRiccardo Chailly,Daniel Harding,Kristjan Järvi,Zubin Mehta,Gianandrea Noseda andAntonio Pappano. He has also played with Italian pop-rock artists and has participated in and hosted TV and radio shows. Currently, he has published 49 albums alone (31 studio).

Born inMilan to Roberto Bollani, from Lombardy, and a Venetian mother fromRovigo, Maddalena,^[2] he has a sister named Manuela born inAlba, Piedmont. He grew up in Florence and began his studies at theFlorence Conservatory at the age of 6 and where he graduated in 1993 under the supervision of Maestro Antonio Caggiula. At 15 he had already started to perform professionally. After a short experience touring as a pop artist and after playing in the pop-rock band La Forma, since the mid-nineties he established himself in the jazz scene.

A crucial event for Bollani's career was meetingEnrico Rava, who he started playing with in 1996.^[3] Together they have performed in hundreds of concerts and have recorded more than 15 albums, the first of which areCerti angoli segreti (1998),Rava Plays Rava andShades of Chet (1999). Around these years Bollani also started playing with some of the most important Italian jazz artists:Paolo Fresu,Roberto Gatto andEnzo Pietropaoli. In 1998 he recorded his first albumGnòsi delle fànfole, based on poems byFosco Maraini, with singer-songwriter Massimo Altomare. In the same year, he played for the first time with American saxophonistLee Konitz inTenderLee for Chet, and won the prize for best new talent awarded by Italian magazineMusica Jazz. In 1999 two more albums came out:Mambo Italiano – recorded with one of his most trusted collaborators, double bass playerAres Tavolazzi – andL'orchestra del Titanic, recorded with the orchestra that gave the name to the album: Antonello Salis, Riccardo Onofri, Raffaello Pareti and Walter Paoli, besides Bollani himself. He also participated inPassatori, by the French accordionistRichard Galliano, with the Solisti dell'Orchestra della Toscana.

Bollani's collaborations in the first years were not limited to jazz, but included works with Italian pop artists such asElio,Irene Grandi, Marco Parente,Peppe Servillo, Bobo Rondelli,Banda Osiris,Bandabardò,Massimo Ranieri. In the meantime, the partnership with Enrico Rava kept flourishing and together they releasedMontréal Diary/B (2001),Tati (2005),The Third Man (2007) andNew York Days (2009). Furthermore, Bollani featured in several albums and international tours where he played with such musicians asGianni Basso,Gianluca Petrella,John Abercrombie,Jeff Ballard,Larry Grenadier,Paul Motian,Mark Turner,Phil Woods,Gato Barbieri andPat Metheny.^[4] Two notable collaborations occurred in 2003: one with Russian singerSainkho Namtchylak (Who Stole the Sky?), and one withHector Zazou who invited Bollani to play alongside him inStrong Currents (other guests wereLaurie Anderson,Jane Birkin andRyuichi Sakamoto).

Between 2002 and 2006, Bollani recorded six albums for French Label Bleu. The series began withLes Fleurs bleues (2002), inspired by the novel byRaymond Queneu and recorded withScott Colley andClarence Penn, followed bySmåt Småt (2003) highlighted by English magazineMojo as one of the best albums of the year.^[5] In 2004Concertone was released, the first album Bollani recorded with a symphonic orchestra – the Orchestra della Toscana directed by Paolo Silvestri – based on which choreographerMauro Bigonzetti crafted a ballet for theStuttgart Ballet.^[6] In the same year Bollani also won the New Star Award, conferred for the first time to a non-US musician by Japanese magazineSwing Journal.^[7] The last of the four albums was released in 2006, titledI visionari and recorded with the homonym band formed by Mirko Guerrini, Nico Gori, Ferruccio Spinetti and Cristiano Calcagnile, with special features byMark Feldman, Paolo Fresu and Petra Magoni (at the time his wife)^{[8][deprecated source]}.

During these same years, Japanese label Venus Records released four albums by the “Stefano Bollani Trio” formed with Ares Tavolazzi on contrabass and Walter Paoli on drums:Black and Tan Fantasy (2002),Volare (2002),Falando de amor (2003),Ma l'amore no (2004) andI'm in the Mood for Love (2007). At the same time Bollani began an intense collaboration with contrabass playerJesper Bodilsen and drummerMorten Lund, with whom he formed the “Danish Trio”. In a three-year span, Stunt label releasedMi ritorni in mente (2003),Close to You (2004, with Danish singer Katrine Madsen) andGleda: Songs from Scandinavia (2005). Finally, in 2009, ECM publishedStone in the Water.

In 2006,Piano Solo was released and the Italian magazineMusica Jazz awarded it the best album of the year and nominated Bollani for the best Italian musician of the year. The following year, Bollani tackled classical repertoire with the Filarmonica '900 of theTeatro Regio of Turin, directed byJan Latham-Koenig, by recording theConcert champêtre,Les Animaux Modèles, and theImprovisations number 13 and 15 byFrancis Poulenc. A few months laterBollaniCarioca came out, recorded with important Brazilian artists. In 2007 he played a piano in aRio de Janeiro favela: onlyAntônio Carlos Jobim had done this before. In the same year he won the Hans Koller European Jazz Prize as the best European musician of 2007^[9] and was listed among the five most important musicians of the year by American websiteAll About Jazz alongsideDave Brubeck,Ornette Coleman,Charles Mingus andSonny Rollins.^[10]

Around this time, Bollani appeared again in the Italian pop music scene, but the most relevant collaboration was that started in 2009 with jazz pianistChick Corea, with whom Bollani toured through various Italian cities showcasing a totally new duo performance. The live albumOrvieto is based on these performances.^[11]

On 15 July 2010, Bollani received an Honorary Doctorate of Music fromBerklee College of Music. On September 14, the award was presented on the main stage of theUmbria Jazz Festival inPerugia, Italy by Berklee's former vice president of academic affairs, Larry Monroe.^[12] The same yearRhapsody in Blue – Concerto in F was released. The album includes three classical works byGeorge Gershwin played by theLeipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra directed byRiccardo Chailly:Rhapsody in Blue (in the piano and jazz band version byPaul Whiteman),Piano Concerto in F, andRialto Ripples. The album entered the pop charts ranking at number eight, making it the first ever classical music album in Italy to be included in the top ten. It also won thePlatinum award after having sold seventy thousand copies.^[13]

In 2012, Bollani and Chailly played again with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to recordSound of the 30s, which includes great classics from the Thirties:Piano Concerto in G major byMaurice Ravel,Tango byIgor Stravinsky,Tango Ballad (fromThe Threepenny Opera) andSurabaya Johnny (from theHappy End musical) byKurt Weill, andA Thousand and One Nights byVictor de Sabata. The two played with theOrchestre de Paris, inParis, and with theFilarmonica della Scala inMilan. The Milan concert was broadcast live in movie theaters of about 20 countries on April 21, 2012,^[14] and recorded on theLive at La Scala DVD (2013) that includes pieces by George Gershwin (Catfish Row,An American in Paris,Concerto in F,Rialto Ripples), byScott Joplin (Maple Leaf Rag) and byJoseph Kosma (Autumn Leaves).

The numerous concerts with symphonic orchestras – directed byDaniel Harding,Kristian Järvi,Zubin Mehta,Gianandrea Noseda andAntonio Pappano among others – did not keep Bollani from recording various albums with other artists, such asBig Band!, with theHamburg-basedNDR Bigband directed by Norwegian saxophonistGeir Lysne (2011;Echo Jazz award 2013^[15]),Irene Grandi & Stefano Bollani (2012),O que será withHamilton de Holanda (2013),Sheik Yer Zappa, a tribute toFrank Zappa's music (2014). Also in 2014, Bollani again recorded with the Danish Trio releasingJoy in Spite of Everything featuringMark Turner andBill Frisell,^[16] which was conferred the Best Album of the year award byMusica Jazz.^[17] On September 26, Bollani received another International award, namely the JTI Trier Jazz Award.^[18]

In 2015, Bollani recorded his first album as singer-songwriterArivano gli alieni. The following year the new albumLive from Mars was released and the projectNapoli Trip begins: Bollani pays tribute toNeapolitan music accompanied byDaniele Sepe, Nico Gori,Manu Katché andJan Bang, and alongsideArye Henriksen,Audun Klive and Hamilton de Holanda. Also in 2016, Bollani participated in Hamilton de Holanda's recording ofSamba de chico and played withChico Buarque inVai trabalhar vagabundo.^[19] In 2017, he played at theBerliner Philharmonie with Jesper Bodilsen, Morten Lund, the French accordionistVincent Peirani, and 14 members of theBerliner Philharmonic, paying homage to Italian composers such asMonteverdi,Leoncavallo,Puccini,Rossini,Rota, andMorricone. Directed and arranged by Geir Lysne, the concert became an album entitledMediterraneo.^[20] In May 2018, Bollani releasedQue Bom, the first album of his own label, Alobar; made of new songs and entirely recorded in Rio de Janeiro, it features artists such asCaetano Veloso,João Bosco,Jaques Morelenbaum and Hamilton de Holanda.^[21] His latest albums includePiano Variations on Jesus Christ Superstar, a solo piano tribute toJesus Christ Superstar released on the 50th anniversary ofAndrew Lloyd Webber andTim Rice's rock opera,^[22] andEl Chakracanta, a live recording from Buenos Aires with the Orquesta Sin Fin, conducted by Exequiel Mantega.^[23]

Bollani wrote and hosted various Italian radio and TV shows:Il Dottor Djembè (Radio Rai 3, 2006–2012),Sostiene Bollani (Rai 3, 2001 and 2013),L'importante è avere un piano (Rai 1, 2016), andVia dei Matti nº0 (Rai 3, 2021–2022).

Bollani has also worked in theater, both as musician-actor and as composer. During the 2015/2016 season he co-wrote, co-directed and acted inLa regina Dada with his partnerValentina Cenni.^[24]

Bollani has published several books, including the novelLa sindrome di Brontolo (2006) and three works on the world of music:L'America di Renato Carosone (2004),Parliamo di musica (2013) andIl monello, il guru, l'alchimista e altre storie di musicisti (2015).

There is also a cartoon character based on Bollani, named Paperefano Bolletta, who appeared for the first time in the Italian version of theDisney magazine,Donald Duck pocket books (Topolino), on 22 September 2009.^[25]

• 1998: Best New Talent (awarded by Italian magazineMusica Jazz)
• 2003: PremioCarosone
• 2004: New Star Award (awarded by Japanese magazineSwing Journal)
• 2006: Italian musician of the year (Musica Jazz)
• 2006:Piano solo album of the year (Musica Jazz)
• 2007: Hans Koller European Jazz Prize
• 2007: Musician of the year (awarded by American websiteAll About Jazz)
• 2009: Paul Acket Award (awarded byNorth Sea Jazz Festival)
• 2010: Capri Global Artist Award
• 2010: Musician of the year (Musica Jazz)
• 2011: Premio Fiorentini nel mondo
• 2011: Los Angeles Excellence Award
• 2012: Premio Milano per la musica
• 2013:Echo Jazz award toBig Band! (album of the year for the category "Big Band")
• 2014: JTI Trier Jazz Award
• 2014:Joy in Spite of Everything album of the year (Musica Jazz)
• 2019: Premio Monini Una finestra sui due mondi
• 2021:Nastro d'Argento for Best Score –Carosello Carosone
• 2021:Flaiano Prize for Best Cultural TV Program –Via dei Matti nº0
• 2021:Tenco Award for Career Achievement
• 2022: Soundtrack Stars Award – Critics' Award (79th Venice International Film Festival)ù
• 2023: Best Music for the film Il Pataffio at the City of Spello Film Festival
• 2023: Classic Lucca Award
• 2023: David di Donatello for Best Soundtrack for the film Il Pataffio
• 2023: Nomination for Best soundtrack Nastri d'argento for the film Il Pataffio

• 2008: Gonfalone d'argento (awarded byTuscany Region)^[26]
• 2010:Honorary Doctorate of Music fromBerklee College of Music
• 2016:Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – Class: Commendatore^[27]
• Honorary member of the Italian Institute of'Pataphysics

Bollani performing in 2013

• StefanoBollani.com, official site
• label bleu