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Carlos Franzetti, piano
From symphonies to big band jazz, from chamber works to Latin American music and film scores – Carlos Franzetti has no limits. Winner of his first Grammy® Award in 2015 as producer of the CD, "Tangos," Carlos Franzetti has previously won 5 Latin Grammy® Awards - in 2015 for Best Classical Composition, in 2014 as producer for Best Tango Album, in 2013 for Best Classical Composition (having previously been a 2012 nominee in the same category), in 2009 for Best Instrumental Album (having been a 2007 nominee in the same category), and in 2001 for Best Tango Album. He was a 2014 Latin Grammy® Nominee in the category of Best Tango Album, a 2012 Grammy® Nominee in the category of Best Instrumental Arrangement, a 2006 Grammy® Nominee in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and a double 2003 Grammy® Nominee in the categories of Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement. Carlos Franzetti has received many outstanding grants and awards, including the 2002 New Jersey Council on the Arts Composers’ Fellowship, The Yamaha Composers Award, The Trofeu Laus from Spain, a Clio Award, The Prensario Award, ACE Award and Premio Konex from Argentina, The Foundation for New American Music, The Penfield Music Commission Project, several grants from Meet the Composer, and two gold records. Mr. Franzetti has served as adjudicator for SGAE and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.
Carlos Franzetti’s compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by the International Sejong Soloists, the New World Symphony, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas the Moab Music Festival, and the Queens Symphony Orchestra; he conducted his arrangements of music by Steve Kuhn (with Mr. Kuhn performing) at the Caramoor Festival and at the Israel Opera in Tel Aviv. Collaborations with major orchestras include the opening concert of the VI International Music Festival in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon with the Orquesta Filarmonica, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony (Washington, D.C.), the St. Louis Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Mexico, the National Symphony of Argentina, the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, the Czech National Symphony, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Modus Chamber Orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic, the Bratislava Radio Orchestra, and orchestras in Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Sweden, Norway and France. He performs and records with jazz artists Arturo Sandoval, Steve Kuhn, David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard, Jane Monheit, Jon Faddis, Ruben Blades and Paquito D’Rivera and scores films for major producers and directors Sidney Lumet, Alan Pakula, Jerry Schatzberg, Harry Belafonte, and Edgardo Cozarinsky. Credits include “La Pelicula del Rey,” “Q&A,” “Misunderstood,” “Beat Street,” “The Mambo Kings,” “See You in the Morning,” “Dans le rouge du couchant,” “Ronda Nocturna,” and “Tango Fatal.”
His latest recordings include the Latin Grammy Nominee, “Buenos Aires Noir” on Amapola Records, “Ricordare” and “Luminosa” on Sunnyside Records, "Argentum" on Sunnyside Records, a recording of his compositions, "Franzetti Plays Franzetti" with pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti on Amapola Records, "L'Histoire du Tango" with guitarist Berta Rojas and the Camerata Bariloche, his solo piano CD, “In the Key of Tango” on Sunnyside Records, a collaborative recording with Ruben Blades, “Tangos,” also on Sunnyside Records, and a DVD on Amapola Records, “Circo de Arrabal.” Other recent recordings include “Pierrot et Colombine” on Sunnyside Records, "Alborada" on Amapola Records, "Puñaladas en el alma" with the renowned Catalonian singer Dyango on Sony Records, "Unica" with Puerto Rican singing sensation India, “Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 2” with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra on Amapola Records and a solo jazz piano recording, “Mambo Tango,” on Sunnyside Records. Additional recordings include “Film Noir” on Sunnyside Records, “Duets” with Eddie Gomez on Acqua Records, “The Carlos Franzetti Trio Live In Buenos Aires” on Amapola Records, “Graffiti” on Sonorama Records, and “Scenes of Spirits” with the Graham Ashton Ensemble on Signum Records. 2006 recordings include “Songs for Lovers” on Chesky Records. 2005 recordings by Carlos Franzetti are “Corpus Evita, an Opera in Two Acts” on Amapola Records and “Carlos Franzetti and the Jazz Kamerata,” on Chesky Records. 2004 recordings are his double CD, “Reflexiones,” on Amapola Records, “Promises Kept” with Steve Kuhn on ECM Records, and the Grammy® Nominee/Latin Grammy® Winner “Coral” with David Sanchez on Sony Records. “Carlos Franzetti - You Must Believe in Spring” was released on Amapola Records in May 2003 and EMI Argentina in October 2004. He conducted, arranged, and co-produced the 1997 Grammy® Award Winner, “Portraits of Cuba” for Chesky Records. Music Director of Orquesta Nova, his 2 CDs for Chesky Records received international critical acclaim. Several works are included on “Images Before Dawn – Symphonic Music of Carlos Franzetti,” for Premier Recordings. World premieres and recordings of his compositions include “Gauchito and the Pony,” an opera for children, “Concierto del Plata” for guitar and chamber orchestra, released by Klavier Records, “Millenium Concerto for Flute and Orchestra,” commissioned by the Municipal Government of Buenos Aires, Argentina and premiered in September 1999, and “Piano Concerto No. 2,” commissioned by the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires as part of their 50th Anniversary season and premiered in September, 1996 at the Teatro Colon. This concerto is included on a CD with “Sinfonia No. 1,” released by Amapola Records. Sinfonia No. 1” was performed by the Bratislava Radio Orchestra in November 2000, the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon in July 2003, and the National Symphony of Mexico in February 2005. Other projects include the 1999 Grammy® Award Nominee, “Remembrances,” for Chesky Records, the 1999 Grammy® Award Nominee, “Obsesion,” for Sony Records, produced by Branford Marsalis, “Tango” with the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, released on DMP Records, and the 2002 Latin Grammy® Nominee “Tango Bar” on Chesky Records.
A citizen of the United States for many years, Carlos Franzetti was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1948. He began his musical studies at age 6 at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires. He later studied piano privately with Guillermo Iscla and Lucia Maranca and composition with Manuel Juarez. During the years 1971 - 1973 he studied composition with Humberto Hernandez Medrano in Mexico. After coming to the United States in 1974, he studied conducting with Vincent LaSelva at the Juilliard School.
Biographies of Carlos Franzetti are listed in Latin American Classical Composers Second Edition by Michel Ficher and Furman Schleifer, published by Scarecrow Press, Maryland 2002, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, published by MacMillan Press Ltd., London 1988, Diccionario de Compositores, published by La Nacion/Corregidor, Buenos Aires 1998, and Chronology of Western Classical Music Volume 2 by Charles J. Hall, published by Rutledge Great Britain Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.