Gianni Virone was born in Chieri (Turin, Italy) in 1980. He is a professional saxophone player, arranger and composer since 2002. Besides playing his compositions with his own trio, he works with many small groups, big bands/orchestras and recording studios as arranger, section player and soloist. His professional activities also include teaching saxophone, improvisation techniques, jazz harmony, composition/arranging and big band class in several schools.
He collaborated with various big bands both as an arranger and section player (all saxes, clarinet, bass clarinet and flute) and he played also with: Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Paolo Fresu, Furio Di Castri, Roberto Gatto, Gianni Basso, John Riley, Fabrizio Bosso, Flavio Boltro, Javier Girotto, Rita Marcotulli, Scott Hamilton, Dusko Gojkovic, Jimmy Cobb, Philip Harper, Terrell Stanford, Eric Vloeimans, Maria Pia De Vito, Danilo Rea, Emanuele Cisi, John De Leo, Nguyèn Lè, Pietro Tonolo and many others.
He graduated from “Conservatorio G.Verdi” and attended several masterclasses in Italy and abroad with Dave Liebman, Airto Moreira, Jerry Bergonzi, Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Steve Coleman, Ayn Inserto and many others.
He won the first edition of the national competition “Nuovi Talenti del Jazz Italiano” and several other prizes as soloist. As a big band composer he was a finalist at the international contests of “Barga Jazz 2007” and “Scrivere in Jazz 2010 and 2014”.
web-site: www.giannivirone.it