Simone Locarni

Simone Locarni is one of the most promising talents of the new European jazz scene. Born in Verbania and raised in Mergozzo, he began studying piano at the age of six and later earned a degree in classical piano at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Fascinated by the artistry of Tom Waits and Keith Jarrett, he discovered jazz at the age of twelve, studying with Ramberto Ciammarughi, Franco D’Andrea, and Umberto Petrin.

Starting in 2016, he began performing at major Italian jazz festivals alongside both Italian and international artists such as Daniele Di Bonaventura, Fabrizio Bosso, Andrea Andreoli, Fabrizio Sferra, Tino Tracanna, Paolo Tomelleri, Hector Costita, John B. Arnold, Yuri Goloubev, Asaf Sirkis, Hans Mathisen, Mark Lockheart, Klaus Gesing, Ana Pilat, Andrew Bain, Richard Galliano, and Javier Girotto. In 2018, at only nineteen, he was invited to perform at the Italian Jazz Days in New York, thanks to a scholarship awarded by the La Spezia International Jazz Festival.

That same year he released his debut album Playin’ Tenco, recorded in quartet with Stefano Solani, Mario Biasio, and Nicola Stranieri, a project dedicated to the music of the Italian songwriter Luigi Tenco. His second album, Ten Stops (2021), features collaborations with Andrea Dulbecco, Bebo Ferra, and Riccardo Fioravanti.

In August 2022, he won the Spoleto Europe Jazz Award for Best European Jazz Talent, and in December he received a Special Mention at Tomorrow’s Jazz — the award for young Italian jazz musicians promoted by Veneto Jazz and the Ministry of Culture — “for his compositional and improvisational approach.” In 2023, he released Blies, his third album and first solo piano record, followed by a tour that took him across Italy as well as to Switzerland, Germany, and Portugal.

In February 2024, Locarni won the 21st edition of the “Chicco Bettinardi” National Competition for Young Italian Jazz Talents in Piacenza (soloist category), also earning the Audience Award. The following month, he won the 14th European Young Artists’ Jazz Award organized by the Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen — becoming the first solo musician in the history of the prize to do so — and opened the 53rd edition of the festival with a solo piano concert at Burghausen’s historic Wackerhalle, preceding Ron Carter’s performance. In June 2024, he received the Critics’ Award at the 28th Massimo Urbani International Prize.

In July 2025, he was invited by Mario Brunello as Artist in Residence at the Stresa Festival, where he collaborated with artists such as Javier Girotto and Richard Galliano, and composed Suite for a Lake — an original work for piano, string quartet, and trumpet dedicated to Lake Maggiore, premiered with Quartetto Noûs and Fulvio Sigurtà.

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