Francesco Tristano

Barcelona-based Francesco Tristano is one of a few Classical musicians to successfully establish themselves as a DJ/producer. Danny Turner meets an extraordinary talent who coaxed Detroit Techno legend Derrick May back into the studio to work on new material

- Danny Turner

As a Classical pianist, Francesco Tristano always felt there was a missing link between the Classical and Electronic realms. While studying at Juilliard School of performing arts, he became inspired by the sound of Daft Punk’s Around The World and stepped into New York’s crazed ’90s club culture. The resulting osmosis was the groundbreaking Not For Piano (2007), which saw Tristano compose piano versions of Detroit Techno classics including Derrick May’s Strings Of Life. Following a chance encounter with Carl Craig at a DJ set in Detroit, Tristano was hooked up with May who later enlisted the charismatic pianist to perform classic tracks on his Orchestral tour. The duo became firm friends, as Tristano coaxed May into the studio to collaborate on his dark, minimalist Techno album, Surface Tension.

FM: How was life growing up Luxembourg? Francesco Tristano:

“I started playing the piano when I was five, and my mum pretty much listened to music from 7am to midnight every day. So my upbringing was listening to a lot of Classical music, but also a decent amount of World music, ’70s fusion and some electronic sounds like Jean Michel Jarre. It all stayed with me from an early age. In fact, there are pictures of me aged seven or eight where I put my keyboards around the piano and tried to play with one hand on the bass synthesizer and the other on the piano. That’s what I always wanted to do, combine the electronic and acoustic worlds.”

What keyboards did you have at that early age?