Francesco Diodati

Composer and improviser, tireless researcher, he carries on an incessant and borderless musical exploration trough the electric, acoustic guitar and electronics.

Over the years he developed a completely personal style that led him to be one of the most sought-after musicians on the national and international scene

He began his activity as a leader and sideman in the early 2000s and subsequently recorded numerous albums of projects of which he was musical director or co-director, presenting them in Italy and the rest of the world.

He currently plays and records with the groups Weave4, Tellkujira, Abhra, Enrico Rava Fearless Five.

In 2006 he began a journey made up of prestigious collaborations, including the groups of Enrico Rava, legend of Italian jazz with whom he has collaborated since 2014 ("Special Edition", New Quartet, Fearless Five), and the project dedicated to David Bowie by Paolo Fresu, with whom he has collaborated since 2019.

He collaborated from 2011 to 2016 with the international project Myanmar Meets Europe led by Tim Isfort which brings together European musicians and classical musicians from Myanmar, with the support of the Goethe Institute, touring Holland, Germany and Burma.

His open vision to all forms of music congenial to him has led him to collaborations in the world of Pop with the singer-songwriter Erica Mou, for whom he recorded and produced the album Partecipami Il Posto (2015), Ainé and Greta Panettieri; to the installation concert by Crisafulli presented at the studio of the artist Sara Bernabucci during the Rome Art Week in 2017 and to the video project Aire by the double bassist Javier Moreno Sanchez in collaboration with the Accademia di Spagna, an artist with whom Francesco performs in a duo in Italy and Europe. He also collaborates as musical director for Puro Teatro shows, developing a personal approach to the intersection between music and words.

In 2024 he was a juror for the independent film festival Taranto Eco Film Festival (TEFF) and provided live soundtracks for Tonino de Bernardi's films.

He has been the artistic director of the tenth edition of Jazz all'Aquila which will be held in 2024.

Since 2024 he has been artistic director together with Stefano Calderano and the Polarville bookshop of the Sonic Collision exhibition in L'Aquila.

He has carried out an intense artistic activity in the most important festivals and musical institutions including:

What If Festival, Newark Conservatory, Fat Cat, Smalls, Zebulon (USA), 12! Points (Ireland), Saal Felden, Porgy and Bess (Austria), Gent Jazz Festival, Middelhein Jazz Festival (Belgium), Moers, Palatia Jazz, Traumzeit Festival (Germany), Music Meeting, Bimhuis (Holland), Ankara Jazz Festival (Turkey), Zsambeck (Hungary), Pagoda Festival (Myanmar), Java Jazz (Indonesia), Singapore Jazz Festival,  Radio France, Jazz in Marciac, Vitrolles Jazz, Triton,  Pannonica ,Turbolence Festival, Tremplin Jazz Avignon, St Omer Jazz, Sunset club , Triton (France), Madrid Jazz Festival, Jamboree, Ibiza Jazz Festival (Spain), Panama Jazz Festival (Panama); OuTonalidades, (Spain), Red Sea Jaz Festival, tel aviv jazz festival, Jerusalem jazz festivasl (Israel), Umbria Jazz, Fano Jazz, Biografilm Festival, Bologna Jazz Festival, Coreggio Jazz, Casa del Jazz, Crossroads, Siena Jazz, Auditorium Parco Della Musica, JazzMi, Pescara Jazz Festival, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Torino jazz Festival, Bari Expo, Cagliari Expo, Foligno Young Jazz in Town, Villa Celimontana, Crossroads, Mundus, Veneto Jazz, Jazz al Teatro La Fenice, Sudtirol Jazz Festival, Iseo Jazz, Jazz Flirt, Mix Festival, Novara Jazz, Padova Jazz , Area Sismica, forlí soglie, Curva minore (italia), Casa do Musica (Portugal),  Vortex, London Jazz Festival (London), East Shore (Pechino).

In particular:

2011 he was invited with his group Neko to the prestigious 12Points festival in Dublin, to represent Italy among the most innovative artists on the European scene

he was invited to the Italian Jazz Graffiti Festival in Milan as a representative of the new Italian jazz scene to perform one of his pieces arranged for the Orchestra of the Civic School of Milan.

In 2013 Francesco was invited to the Ankara festival dedicated to the guitar to represent Italy.

From 2011 to 2016 he was part of the MyanmarMeetsEurope project, financed by the Goethe Institute under the direction of Tim Isfort, taking part in residencies, concerts, workshops in Myanmar, Germany and Holland with a group of European improvisers and a Burmese classical ensemble.

2019

he is selected with the Floors group (Vignato, Ponticelli) by the Ministry of Culture for a European tour.

he is selected by I-Jazz with the Yellow Squeeds group to represent Italian creative music in Italy and Europe, performing concerts in the main Italian festivals and abroad at Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Paradox (Tilburg), London Jazz Festival, Belgrade Jazz Festival.

organizes a workshop/concert with students upon invitation of Midj (Italian Jazz Musicians) and Musicus concentus at the Sala Vanni in Florence.

Umbria Jazz invites Francesco Diodati for a 3-day Carte Blanche in which 3 different projects (floors, MAT, Yellow Squeeds) are presented as part of the Umbria Jazz Winter festival held in Orvieto.

Artistic residencies and productions

2025 and 2026 Artistic residency for the Italian cultural institute in Mexico. Project on field recordings and performances.

2024 CasaMia artistic residency near Carnia (Friuli) with the Nimituare group. Development of music and interaction with the local community.

2023 Residency for Creative Europe (culture moves europe) at IRCAM (Paris) with the tellKujira group (Stefano Calderano, Ambra Chiara Michelangeli, Francesco Guerri) and the REACH research team (Marco Fiorini, Gerard Assayag)

2023 Collaborative residency at the IMPROTECH festival organized by Ircam within the Improtech festival of Uzeste

2023 residency and musical direction for the theater show La storia scordata (text Luana testa, directed by Angela Antonini) in collaboration with Puro Teatro.

2021 Residency for I-Portunus in Paris and recording of the weave4 project (Francesco Bigoni, Benoît Delbecq, Steve Argüelles).

2019 Marche Inteatro (Polverigi) artistic residency and exhibition of the project/ Performance In Every Encounters with Roberta Racis (Dance) and Ermanno Baron (Percussion)

2019 – Sound installation in collaboration with Stefano Calderano and the visual artist Sara Bernabucci for the “le nove stanza” exhibition promoted by the social cooperative of medical psychotherapy.

2018 Garage Nardini (Bassano Del Grappa) artistic residency and exhibition of the project/ Performance In every Encounters with Roberta Racis, Leon Maric (Dance) and Ermanno Baron (Percussion)

2018 Garage Nardini (Bassano Del Grappa) artistic residency and exhibition of the project/ Performance In every Encounters with Roberta Racis (Dance) and Ermanno Baron (Percussion)

2018 Rome Art Week at Studio Pisani – “Jade Project” installation in collaboration with Ivan Macera, “Ghost Track” performance in collaboration with Stefano Calderano, Veronica Montanino.

2017 Rome Art Week At Studio Pisani – Performance with Marcello Allulli and Light Design by Fabrizio Crisafulli. “All is Movement” installation in collaboration with Fabrizio Crisafulli.

2017 Fabrica Europa (Florence) - Residency and exhibition of the project/Performance Borders with Roberta Racis (Dance) and Ermanno Baron (Percussion)

2017 Casa del Jazz (Rome) - Italian/French residence F.A.R.E with the support of Midj and the festival A strip of fertile land. The artistic residency, led by Cristiano Arcelli and the French trombonist Fidel Fourneyon, leads to a concert and a live recording.

2017 Auand Days (Bisceglie) - Creative residency organized by the independent label Auand Records with the groups Auanders and Floors.

2016 Casa del Jazz (Rome) - Artistic residency and subsequent creation of a live album dedicated to the music of Nirvana at the Casa Del Jazz, in collaboration with Midj. The album is distributed as an attachment to Espresso magazine with the Italian Jazz Live series.