Leo Vertunni

Leo Vertunni is a concert sitarist with extensive international experience, specializing in Indian classical music and active in numerous intercultural dialogue projects spanning flamenco, jazz, Western art music, electronica, and pop. Trained in India under Pandit Avaneendra Sheolikar and Ustad Irshad Khan, he combines his performance practice with a solid academic background in Indology, holding a degree in History and Oriental Civilizations from the University of Bologna and a Master’s in Music Performance from SOAS University of London. He performs regularly in prominent national and international contexts, including the Unipol Forum in Assago, the May Day Concert in Rome, the Rietberg Museum in Zurich (Switzerland), Cavatina Hall in Bielsko (Poland), the Skirball Centre in New York (USA), CSO Ada in Ankara (Turkey), and the Sangeet-Samaroh Festival in Nagpur (India). He performed for the Indian Prime Minister during his official visit to Rome in 2026. His discography includes releases on specialist labels such as Dark Companion, CM Records, and Schema Records (Indialucia, Jugalbandi Trio, Gürkan Özkan Trio, Cosmic Renaissance), as well as collaborations with major labels including Universal, Warner, and Sony (Mace, Colapesce Dimartino). He is actively involved in promoting Indian music through radio broadcasting (RSI, RAI), workshops and seminars (MUDEC, Museum of Anthropology in Florence), and teaching in higher education: since 2019 he has been a lecturer in the Department of Traditional Music at the Conservatory of Vicenza, and has given masterclasses at various institutions including the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, and the Penderecki Academy in Kraków. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Artistic Research at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome; his project explores the adaptation of the sitar and Indian modal improvisation within contemporary transcultural musical contexts.