Francesco Tristano Schlimé, stage name Francesco Tristano, is a Luxembourg classical and experimental pianist and composer, who also plays the clarinet. He composes both classical and electronic music.
He debuted in 2000 with the Russian National Orchestra, with which he recorded Sergey Prokofiev’s 5th Piano Concerto and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto years later. In 2004, he presented and conducted, at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and the Beaux-Arts in Brussels, an original transcription/adaptation for piano and strings of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. He was nominated by the Philharmonie Luxembourg for the 2008 European Concert Hall Organization’s Carnegie Hall Rising Stars series.
Francesco Tristano is a specialist in Baroque music and contemporary music. In 2001, he founded The New Bach Players ensemble, with which he recorded Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete cycle of Keyboard concertos for Accord. He has also recorded the Goldberg Variations and the French Suites, as well as Girolamo Frescobaldi’s 1st book of Toccatas. Very involved in Contemporary music, too, he has recorded Luciano Berio’s complete piano works and collaborated with electronic music artists such as Carl Craig and Murcof. He won the 2004 Concours International de piano XXe siècle d’Orléans.
He was a member, with Rami Khalife and Aymeric Westrich, of the Aufgang group, whose namesake album was released in 2009. Francesco Tristano disbanded in 2013. The trio also released the albums Air on Fire and Istiklaliya. Aufgang is continuing as the duo composed by Rami Khalifé and Aymeric Westrich.