BIO

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FRANCESCA DARDANI

Violinist Francesca Dardani is known for the versatility of her playing, allowing her to expand her musical career as an international performing and recording artist.

Francesca can be frequently seen performing in theaters and arenas internationally and all over NYC, where she is currently based, at venues like The Apollo Theater, The Beacon Theater, Carnegie Hall , Radio City Music Hall , Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, Lincoln Center, the Prudential Center etc. She regularly appears alongside prominent artists on national television and festivals such as The Late Show with Colbert, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, The Today Show, the Billboard Music Awards, Latin Grammys, The GRAMMY Awards, the VMAS MTV awards, the Governors Ball, NPR Tiny Desk, The Met Gala and more.

Francesca was invited to be the solo violinist of a string trio for Madonna nine month world tour “Madame X” ended in 2020. Francesca was also chosen to be part of four shows residency at The Tonight Show with Bruce Springsteen as part of his Night Shift band and performing on four of Springsteen’s music videos from his new album “Only The Strong Survive”.

Francesca recently worked as a string coordinator for Ed Sheeran Subtract Tour, hiring a total of 70 strings for 14 dates tour in the United States.

Popular artists she has performed, recorded and contracted musicians for artists like Stevie Wonder (Songs In The Key Of Life Tour) , Madonna (Madame X Tour), Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Olivia Rodrigo, Rihanna, St. Vincent, Halsey, John Legend, Miley Cyrus, Karol G, Mark Ronson, Doja Cat, Jon Batiste, Avril Lavigne, Kesha, David Guetta, Lykke Li, Elvis Costello, The Roots, Meghan Trainor, Cynthia Erivo, Smokey Robinson, Leona Lewis, Calum Scott, Yebba, Sofia Carson, 50 Cent, Stevie Van Zandt, Josh Groban, Dianne Warren, RY X, a Great Big World, Nathaniel Rateliff, Darlene Love, KYGO, solo violin performances for Andrea Bocelli, Shoshana Bean and Kristin Chenoweth and for director David Lynch at the Festival of Disruption and many more.

Francesca can be heard on original motion pictures soundtracks like The Farewell, Boy Erased, Expacts (Amazon) I,Tonya , LA 92, Nian (Apple movie), Little Richard: I am everything, The Novice, Goodnight Mommy, Emily in Paris, What breaks the Ice.. She performed and recorded for two seasons of America’s Got Talent and many commercials like IBM, Apple, Symbicort, Canon , Clorox, Lucky Charms etc.

She had performed for orchestras on and off Broadway since the age of twenty-five in shows like Sweeney Todd, Hamilton: An American Musical, Matilda , Found , & Juliet , Radio City Christmas Spectacular . In addition she performs as concertmaster of the Sinfonietta and as a member of the grammy winning jazz orchestra 8-Bit Big Band.

Francesca is also an avid classical chamber musician and has been invited to participate and perform in many festivals including the Mozarteum Sommerakademie, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, the International Holland Music Session , Aldeburgh Festival, the London Masterclasses, the Aurora Chamber Music Festival (Sweden), the IMS Prussia Cove , the Edinburgh Festival and the Red Bull Music Festival in NYC. Francesca performed for many years alongside members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. She has performed throughout Europe and the United States. Performances include concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the London Royal Albert Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and more.

She has worked with prominent classical artists like Maxim Vengerov, Pamela Frank, Pavel Vernikov, Mauricio Fuks, Miriam Fried and performed under the baton of Oliver Knussen, Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, Robin Ticciati, Semyon Bychkov, Mark Wigglesworth, Pablo Heras- Casado and many more.

She was a former member of the orchestra Archi De Sono String Orchestra (Torino), iPalpiti Artists (Los Angeles), Mimesis Ensemble, American Symphony Orchestra, principal second a the Britten Pears Orchestra (England), and former co-principal of the Opera Orchestra Teatro Regio (Parma).

Italian-Chinese American, Francesca was born and raised in Parma, Italy, and began her violin studies at the age of eight. Following studies at the Conservatorio A. Boito (Parma) after receiving a scholarship from DeSono Associazione (Torino, Italy), she was accepted at the Mannes College of Music in New York to study with Lewis Kaplan. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music and continued her studies with Krzysztof Wegrzyn in Hannover (Germany). Francesca received a Master of Arts degree from the Royal Academy of Music, London, in 2013 under the tutelage of Richard Deakin.

Francesca is endorsed by REMIC Microphones since 2018 and Gewa from 2022.