Francesco Orio

Francesco Orio is a versatile musician, improviser, and researcher with a diverse academic background, holding a Master’s degree in Musicology from Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona (2023), a second-level degree in Jazz Piano with honors from the Conservatorio di Piacenza (2016), and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Università di Pavia (2014). Currently, he enrolled as a PhD candidate at the Universitat de Barcelona.
His primary focus lies in the preservation of musical heritage, achieved through in-depth studies and research, as well as the creative reinterpretation in a modern context. This approach reflects his dedication to explore, understand, and reinterpret musical heritage with a conservative sensibility, coupled with a vivid artistic expression in harmony with contemporary sensibilities.
As a musician, his commitment extends beyond the realm of recorded albums and projects. In addition to the listed releases, Francesco serves as the co-editor for the ‘Schola Cantorum Cantus Fugiens’ in Barcelona and holds the position of director for the vocal group ‘Ensemble Aromata’. This ensemble is dedicated to performing and recording previously unreleased material derived from musicological research on Gregorian chant.
As a dedicated musicologist, his current focus is on primary sources of chant in Catalan and Aquitanian music scripts. Specifically, Francesco studies the musical evidence of the transition toward the Gregorian chant in the Iberian Peninsula. As part of this endeavor, he has been recently appointed as research fellow in the FCT-funded project “Echoes from the Past: Unveiling a Lost Soundscape with Digital Analysis (2022.01957.PTDC).