I Poeti del Piano Solo: program of the 6th edition
I Poeti del Piano Solo, the festival dedicated to the pure piano emotions organized by Musicus Concentus in collaboration with Something Like This Association, comes back to Florence for the sixth consecutive year.
Under the artistic direction of pianist Stefano Maurizi and Fernando Fanutti, president of Musicus Concentus, the 2025 edition takes place in June, offering a trio of international artists to be heard in two exceptional venues in the city: the evocative Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and the panoramic Terrazza Belvedere del Giardino Bardini, an enchanting view of Florence.
A programme that renews the festival’s intention: celebrate the poetry of the piano through the unique voice of its performers, in spaces that enhance its beauty and depth of sound.
12/06 – Shai Maestro – Museo dell’Opera del Duomo di Firenze – h. 21:15
Free entry with mandatory reservations from June, 2025
Shai Maestro (1987) is one of the most talented pianists of his generation. Since his debut with his own trio in 2011, Shai has shaped a strong and unique personal identity and has portrayed an incredible musical fluidity, making him and his band one of the most powerful and harmonious groups in the music world today.
With his latest two albums on the renown label ECM, produced by Manfred Eicher, Shai Maestro instantly became part of the line of famous jazz pianists who have defined the label: Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley and Chick Corea. With a pure form of improvisation, joyful interplay, emotion and energy, Shai and his current close-knit quartet play with all kinds of influences, which come together in one-of-a-kind evolving high-energy concerts and inspirational recordings. Cinematic, challenging yet accessible and recognizable in every emotion, Shai’s most recent album, Human (ECM), was largely written and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic and released in 2021.
Combining extensive worldwide touring, Shai signed with Sony for worldwide publishing and began to expand his artistic creativity and palette: scoring music for films, writing and arranging his music for large orchestra’s, producing (a.o. Gilad Hekselman’s album Fast Moving Century) and writing for renowned contemporary pop and electronica artists. Highlights include the invitation to perform a commissioned program with the world famous Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Keitaro Harada) at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater. In the summer of 2022 Shai presented his new full scale orchestral work – “Alice” written for the national Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa and his quartet, conducted by Pedro Carneiro.
On 2 May 2025, the French label Naïve Records will release Solo: Miniatures & Tales, Shai new solo piano album, anticipated by the single “Gloria”.
13/06 – Fergus McCreadie – Terrazza Belvedere del Giardino Bardini* – h.18:00
🇮🇹 Only Italian Date
– Tickets on sale at Boxol.it BUY NOW –
With a unique blend of Jazz and Scottish folk inspired by his country’s sublime landscapes, pianist Fergus McCreadie’s music captures the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide, with an appeal that extends far beyond the constraints of genre.
Released to instant critical acclaim, Fergus’s 2022 album Forest Floor catapulted him into the international spotlight. The album topped the UK Jazz & Blues charts, prompted sold-out performances across the UK, praise from BBC 6Music, The Times, NME and earned him a 2022 Mercury Prize shortlist nomination, the 2022 Jazz FM Instrumentalist of the Year Award as well as the 2022 Scottish Album of the Year Award – the first jazz artist ever to be awarded the prize. Fergus’s latest album Stream (2024) continues his exploration of the nature and landscapes of Scotland, this time delving into the essence of water.
*In case of bad weather, the concert will be hosted in Sala Vanni.
14/06 – Jacky Terrasson – Terrazza Belvedere del Giardino Bardini* – h.18:00
🇮🇹 Only Italian Date
– Tickets on sale at Boxol.it BUY NOW –
Jacky Terrasson is one of the most acclaimed talents who came to the fore on the international jazz scene at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. He studied classical piano in Paris until he discovered his mother’s extensive collection of jazz records. At the age of nineteen, he left for the United States: a study period at Berklee in Boston and then a return to Paris, where he worked with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Barney Wilen and Ray Brown, among others.
The return to the USA is marked in 1993 by first prize at the prestigious “Thelonious Monk” competition in Washington. It is the prelude to a dazzling career that will take him in a few years to play on stages all over the world and sign for prestigious labels such as Blue Note, Concord Music, EmArcy, Impulse! and Universal Jazz France. In 2023, he founded Earth-Sounds, his own record label, with which he released the following year the album Moving On, his last studio work.
With a technically perfect style, Terrasson combines the European modernist tradition (listening to him, Debussy and Ravel may sometimes come to mind) and the high school of jazz piano improvisation, in line with a tradition that stretches from Art Tatum, via Bud Powell, Ahmad Jamal and Thelonious Monk, to Bill Evans. What is surprising in his playing are the sudden appearance of imaginative quotations and textures, a natural sense of rhythm and an uncommon dynamism.
*In case of bad weather, the concert will be hosted in Sala Vanni.
