Bruno is a classically trained pianist, producer, and composer based in Barcelona who writes for strings, piano, and electronics.
He began playing piano as a child, on an old Pleyel upright at his parents’ house in Buenos Aires. Although inspired by several different types of music, his early years were influenced by composers like Erik Satie and Claude Debussy, and contemporary musicians such as Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, and Harold Budd. His first recordings were released in 1991, and in 1998 he started as a producer for ad21, a personal platform, and label that has released the majority of his albums (2016’s The Poet was released by 1631 Recordings and Decca Publishing, while Unity came out on Russian label Dronarivm, in 2018). He has also collaborated on several projects with the labels 7K!, Moderna Records, and Thesis.
In 2024, Bruno, as a co-owner, embarked on a new chapter by opening ad21’s doors to pianists from around the world.
His Piano Textures series started in 2007, is one of Sanfilippo’s most representative set of recordings, but he has also gained wider recognition in modern music – one of his piano compositions formed the basis for Canadian rapper Drake’s seminal hit, ‘Started From The Bottom’.
In addition to recordings available on streaming platforms, Sanfilippo has a series of solo and collaborative albums that are available exclusively through Bandcamp, some of which were released by American labels between 2008 and 2012. Sanfilippo regularly performs at various live and multimedia events, and at festivals all over the world.
He presents ‘Refugio de Luz‘ in June 2025. In this EP, he continues his exploration of neoclassical music, offering compositions that blend emotional depth with elegant simplicity.
Going by the name ¨Onix¨, he focuses on combining contemporary electronic ambiences with intimate traditional orchestration.
Sanfilippo’s CDs/Vinyl are available at Bandcamp Databloem, Norman Records, Denovali,
Discogs, TowerRecords Japan…
«In the last decade Modern Classical has soared in popularity for both releases and artists coming through the genre. Credit can go to the likes of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and labels like Erased Tapes and 130701 in helping popularize the music. You can add Argentinian Bruno Sanfilippo to the list» Drifting, Almost Falling
“Minimalist and modern classical piano music is a crowded genre nowadays, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. But for his restrained but emotionally engaging compositions, his perfect sound quality and combining the sound of the piano with more experimental electro-acoustics, Bruno Sanfilippo can stand the comparison with fellow contemporary classical composers like Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Harold Budd” AmbientBlog
… Had a listener’s only exposure to Bruno Sanfilippo come about through hearing his Hypnos recording Urbs, said listener would have identified him as an exceptionally refined sound-sculptor working in the electro-acoustic ambient field. But the classically trained Sanfilippo also issues minimalist piano recordings, of which Piano Textures Series is an impressive example. Textura.org
About Piano Textures.
… Simple and elegant, mesmerizing and haunting. I absolutely love turning up the volume, and letting
every hypnotic and melancholic note weep gently through the night. For the lovers of Max Richter, Eluvium, Rafael Anton Irisarri, and Zbigniew Preisner. I highly recommended this gem! Headphone Commute.
”Sinking into his album ‘Tangible’ is wondrously life-affirming, and confirms Sanfilippo as one of the best, most soulful pianists and composers in the world” Derek Robertson, Freelance journalist and music writer: Guardian, Independent, NME, VICE, Timeout, The Quietus, The Face
Storytelling
From Buenos Aires to Barcelona: a destiny written in keys. Read the story behind the music!
There was an old ‘Pleyel’ upright piano waiting for me at home in Buenos Aires when I was born. During my childhood, I was never far from it, it was my first, and favourite, toy.
As a teenager, I lost the tip of a finger on my left hand in a domestic accident. That trauma made me give up the piano for years. I turned to synthesizers and electronic sounds instead. But my finger never lost its sensitivity. I slowly got closer to the piano again through harmony and composition classes. “My teacher used to tell me: Skriabin had short fingers, and he played wonderfully.” Today, I barely think about it. After finishing my studies at the Galvani Conservatory in 1988, I still couldn’t afford a good piano. The old Pleyel had seen me grow, but its sound was fading. In the early ‘90s, I finally got a decent one.
With it, I began composing and recording my first pieces.
Around the same time, I dove into synths: Juno 106, DX7, Ensoniq Mirage, E-mu samplers… Then came my first records: Sons of the Light (1991), and The New Kingdom (1995). Today, they feel like early sketches of something bigger. In 2000, just after composing Suite Patagonia, and after the Argentine crisis, my wife Ximena and I emigrated to Barcelona. We arrived with almost nothing, but full of hope. I kept creating: Visualia, Ad Libitum, InTRO, Auralspace… each one adding layers to a personal soundscape, crafted with synthesizers and field recordings. And finally, in 2011, I got my grand piano, a Kawai RX-3. It’s the heart of Onix II Studio, at our mountain home near Barcelona. This time, I hope we’ll never be apart again.
Thank you for reading.
