Stefano Bollani (born 5 December 1972) is an Italian composer, pianist and singer, also active as a writer and a television presenter. He has worked with such musicians as Gato Barbieri, Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, Sol Gabetta, Richard Galliano, Egberto Gismonti, Lee Konitz, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Caetano Veloso, Phil Woods, Hector Zazou and has recorded more than 15 albums with trumpeter Enrico 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 as Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, Kristjan Järvi, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda and Antonio 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). Biography Early life Born in Milan to Roberto Bollani, from Lombardy, and a Venetian mother from Rovigo, Maddalena, he has a sister named Manuela born in Alba, Piedmont. He grew up in Florence where he began his studies in the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini 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. 1990s A crucial event for Bollani's career was meeting Enrico Rava, who he started playing with in 1996. Together they have performed in hundreds of concerts and have recorded more than 15 albums, the first of which are Certi angoli segreti (1998), Rava Plays Rava and Shades of Chet (1999). Around these years Bollani also started playing with some of the most important Italian jazz artists: Paolo Fresu, Roberto Gatto and Enzo Pietropaoli. In 1998 he recorded his first album Gnòsi delle fànfole, based on poems by Fosco Maraini, with singer-songwriter Massimo Altomare. In the same year, he played for the first time with American saxophonist Lee Konitz in TenderLee for Chet, and won the prize for best new talent awarded by Italian magazine Musica Jazz. In 1999 two more albums came out: Mambo Italiano – recorded with one of his most trusted collaborators, double bass player Ares Tavolazzi – and L'orchestra del Titanic, recorded with the orchestra that gave the name to