Luca Zabbini

Italian Progressive Rock Musician

Luca Zabbini s an Italian keyboardist and guitar player, born March 26, 1984 in San Giovanni in Persiceto in the Bologna region. With perfect pitch from birth, he was surrounded by music thanks to his pianist grandfather, flutist and saxophonist father and drummer uncle. At the age of six, he started his first piano lessons and later began experimenting with improvisation by playing his father’s records, including those of Emerson Lake & Palmer. This is where Luca’s love for music and Keith Emerson’s keyboard playing began. In 1995, at the age of eleven, Luca made his stage debut with his first formation, Fattore Comune, a 70s funk cover band. The following year, he formed his first band, K2, with which he performed progressive songs by ELP (including Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition) and PFM. At the age of thirteen, he enrolled in the conservatory at the O. Vecchi Institute in Modena as a pianist, and two years later also began the composition course with Prof. Antonio Giacometti. In 2009, he graduated with honors in piano and in 2011 with the highest marks in composition. In 2003, Luca realized his dream of forming the Barock Project band, combining the freshness and creativity of symphonic and classical music with the structure of modern pop. With the Barock Project, he has released 7 albums of original music and performed on stages around the world, also participating in prestigious rock and progressive music festivals in Japan, the United States and Europe. In 2006, Luca completed the writing of a Piano and Orchestra Concerto, demonstrating his composing skills. During his conservatory years, he wrote numerous pieces for various ensembles and in various styles, drawing inspiration from his favorite composers such as Bela Bartok, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Alberto Ginastera, and especially Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2020, he participated in the composition and arrangements of PFM’s album I Dreamed of Electric Sheep, and in 2021 he released his solo album One, entirely composed, performed, and recorded by himself in his home studio during the 2020 lockdown. In 2022, Luca becomes a keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and vocalist member on tour with PFM, resulting inm the May 2023 album PFM*, Premiata Forneria Marconi Special Guests Matteo Mancuso & Luca Zabbini - The Event (Live In Lugano Estival Jazz). Currently, he is a piano teacher at the Musicology School in Modena, and official endorser of the music production company IK Multimedia.