Bocconi and Yamaha Present Isole Sonore
From 29 October 2026 to 13 May 2027, Bocconi University will host a new season of Isole Sonore, a concert series organized by the University in collaboration with Yamaha. The program features seven concerts held in the Aula Magna (Via Röntgen 1), all starting at 9pm and with free admission. Under the artistic direction of Cesare Picco, the series offers a musical journey across boundaries, ranging from classical music, jazz and electronic music to 20th-century and contemporary music — and every possible combination of these genres.
“Isole Sonore is celebrating its fifth anniversary,” says Cesare Picco, Artistic Director and co-creator of the series. “Since 2022, the doors of Bocconi’s Aula Magna have opened to thousands of people, an audience of all ages that has grown along with us. Thanks to the collaboration between Bocconi and Yamaha, the concert series offers completely free admission and has made dialogue between different genres its hallmark, breaking down musical boundaries and promoting the piano as a true ‘time machine’ capable of traveling between past, present and future.”
“Over the past five years, Isole Sonore has become an event that brings together people of different ages, backgrounds and interests at Bocconi through the shared pleasure of listening to and discovering great music,” says Silvia Tracchi, Bocconi’s Corporate Marketing & Communication Director. “Offering Milan a high-quality musical program, free of charge, reflects our vision of an open university that takes part in the city’s cultural life and helps make it more accessible. Together with Yamaha, we want to continue fostering this curiosity by creating opportunities to discover new musical languages, encounter the unexpected and look beyond the boundaries of what we already know.”
The first event, on Thursday 29 October, will be Edge – Sounds from the Threshold. The solo piano concert will be performed by Cesare Picco featuring songs from his new EP, released simultaneously by Decca Records. Picco continues his exploration from a very specific point: a threshold between different states of consciousness, where sound is no longer simply something to be heard but becomes something the listener can enter and move through.
On Thursday 12 November, Polish pianist Zsigmond Gerlóczy will perform in Milan for the first time with his latest project, Bagatelles. In recent months, Gerlóczy’s growing reputation has been fueled by recognition from legendary figures in the music world — first and foremost Keith Jarrett, who welcomed him into his home — as well as by influential voices constantly searching the musical landscape for new talent, including renowned musician and music educator Rick Beato, whose channel is currently enjoying extraordinary success online. Gerlóczy explores the piano with complete freedom, disregarding boundaries between genres and restoring improvisation to its most fundamental meaning: thought taking shape in the moment. His talent is expressed through a musical language initially forged in Bachian counterpoint before encountering improvisation and jazz. This has opened up unusual creative paths, enriched by artistic exchanges with musicians including Jacob Collier and Tigran Hamasyan and producers such as Walter Afanasieff and Jeff Bhasker.
Fabrizio Rat will return to Milan on Thursday 14 January. A Paris-based composer, pianist and producer, Rat has developed an artistic career at the intersection of electronic music, techno, jazz and contemporary music, bringing a “prepared” piano into close dialogue with electronics. He has performed at major festivals, clubs and theaters throughout Europe, Russia, South America, the United States and Japan. Originally from Ferrero, Piedmont, he has studied at the Turin Conservatory, King’s College London and the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris. His eclectic path has taken him from contemporary music to pop and rock and from jazz to techno and dance music, creating a highly personal sound world in which the piano becomes a “multimedia” instrument.
Neapolitan pianist and composer Alberto Pizzo will present his new project, Skylight, on Thursday 11 February. A virtuoso pianist with a modern approach that defies traditional categories, his music is constantly poised on a tightrope between New York, Naples and Tokyo, where he now lives. A Yamaha Artist with a refined technique, Pizzo moves naturally from Baroque music to tango, from Neapolitan songs to film scores. He has collaborated with artists including Luis Bacalov, Chick Corea and Jaques Morelembaum and composed “Sky,” the official theme of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.
On Thursday 11 March, Milan will welcome the return of Sofia Sacco, following her November 2026 performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Milan Symphony Orchestra. She will present a new program entitled At the Edge of Time – From Baroque to Contemporary. Sacco offers a fresh interpretation of the threads running through musical development from Couperin, Rameau and Bach to Yoshimatsu, via Messiaen and Shostakovich, also featuring a piece by Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she is now a Fellow and Associate, and a Physics graduate of the University of Padua, Sofia Sacco combines rigor with interpretive depth. A winner of international awards, she made her recording debut with the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich, a project that earned her a nomination for the German Record Critics’ Award. She is supported by the City Music Foundation and is Artist in Residence at the Società del Quartetto di Bergamo. A self-described “fierce enthusiast” of Shostakovich, she performs the composer’s complete works for piano on tour.
On Thursday 8 April, the East will meet French Impressionism in Belle Chen’s evocative performance, Ravel in the Forest and Beyond. An Australian pianist with Taiwanese heritage, Chen weaves classical music and sound art into a musical language that Brian Eno has described as “original and provocative.” Her latest album, Ravel in the Forest, has climbed the UK charts. She moved to London in 2010, where she completed her classical training and began improvising. In 2015, she received the Classical Rising Star Award at the London Music Awards and, that same year, the Curator’s Choice for Music Award at the NOISE Festival, where her work attracted the attention of Brian Eno. Today, her career takes her to major concert halls and prestigious venues around the world.
The series will close on Thursday 13 May, with a meeting between two major artists representing two generations of Italian jazz piano: Dado Moroni and Francesca Tandoi, presenting their project United Pianists. Dado Moroni has a career spanning more than 35 years, performing alongside legends such as Freddie Hubbard, while Francesca Tandoi’s elegant touch and contemporary swing have earned her significant international recognition. A jazz musician and accomplished vocalist, Tandoi has her roots in bop and hard bop and is now a regular presence at major European jazz festivals, performing alongside jazz legends such as Moroni, as well as internationally acclaimed groups including Snarky Puppy.
ISOLE SONORE 2026–2027 — Fifth Edition
Bocconi University - Yamaha Concert Series
Artistic Direction: Cesare Picco
2026–2027 Program:
29 October 2026 Cesare Picco
12 November 2026 Zsigmond Gerlóczy
14 January 2027 Fabrizio Rat
11 February 2027 Alberto Pizzo
11 March 2027 Sofia Sacco
8 April 2027 Belle Chen
13 May 2027 Dado Moroni and Francesca Tandoi