Francesco Tristano, the world-renowned pianist of classical and electronic music, has shared a short film in which he returns to Riga after a 26-year hiatus to perform an electronic live performance.
Tristano describes his emotional return during which he revealed a little-known Riga connection:
''Last summer after 26 years, I had the opportunity to return to Riga, fusing piano and electronics in a live performance. It was an emotional return as i have a hidden connection to this city''.
The short film by Francesco Tristano “My Riga Connection” is directed by Viktors Buda, who is known for the acclaimed documentary "Era of Dance" (2017) and has been the author of several music genre films and works.
Francesco Tristano (1981), who composes both classical and electronic music, even before studying at the world-famous Juilliard Academy of Music in New York, spent a year in Riga in 1997 studying at the Jāzeps Vītols Music Academy of Latvia under the guidance of teacher Teofils Biķis. Tristano considers the time spent in Riga to be an important turning point in his career, which prepared him for the Juilliard School and made him the pianist and musician the world knows him to be today.
Performance in Riga after a 26-year break with an electronic live set became the first performance for Tristano since his studies at the Jāzeps Vitols Music Academy in Riga when Tristano performed as a conservatory student playing classical music repertoire.
The pianist and composer Francesco Tristano was born in Luxemburg in 1981. He studied at the Luxemburg, Brussels, Riga, and Paris conservatories before graduating from the renowned Julliard School in New York. After graduating from the Juilliard School, Tristano went on to build a brilliant career and become one of today's most recognized classical and electronic music pianists. He combines the two styles in the concept of "piano 2.0" where the instrument achieves a new textural expression through digital technology.
Today, this internationally renowned concert pianist collaborates with Sony Classical in order to release his music and still travels the world as both a pianist and an electronic artist.
