BIO

Gabriele di Franco

Gabriele di Franco is an award-winning composer, writer, and guitarist, born in Italy and naturalized Belgian. Active in contemporary music, he is deeply drawn to storytelling and artistic collaboration. He describes himself as an "ambiguous artist," navigating the spaces between jazz, classical, and world music, with a strong focus on depth and awareness in the compositional process. He graduated in jazz guitar from the Conservatorio Nino Rota (Italy) and completed an additional year at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (Austria). He later earned a Master's degree in Jazz Composition and Arrangement at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB), studying under composers such as Kris Defoort, Lode Mertens, and Peter Swinnen. Gabriele has received several international awards for his work, including:

• 3rd Prize in the “Spheres of a Genius Honoring Carla Bley” competition (ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2023 – Austria)
• 1st Prize in the “Scrivere in Jazz 2022” competition (Italy)
• 3rd Prize at the Helsinki International Big Band Composing Contest (2021 – Finland)
• 2nd Prize at the Jazz Comp Graz (2017 – Austria)

His work also extends to musical theatre, having composed LULELA (2021, LODmuziektheater – Belgium), whose script was later published by Albatros Il Filo (Italy) and received multiple literary prizes. His orchestral jazz album The Value Of Choices is set to be released in autumn 2025. In 2026, his second music theatre piece Short Stories For Grown Up Children will be premiered. The piece was expressly composed for the Brussels Vocal Project and is conceived as a #ConcertTales for choir and percussion.