Biréli Lagrène

Villa Medici – Académie de France welcomes Biréli Lagrène, one of the leading figures and virtuosos of the European and international jazz guitar scene. Raised in the Manouche musical tradition of gypsy jazz, Lagrène has developed, over more than forty years, an artistic journey that has taken him from the repertoire of Django Reinhardt towards modern jazz, fusion and collaborations with some of the most important musicians of our time.

Born in 1966 in Saverne, Alsace, into a family of musicians, Lagrène took up the guitar as a child and quickly established himself as a young interpreter of the Gypsy tradition. Django Reinhardt was his first major influence, but his musical education soon expanded to include Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Jaco Pastorius. From the mid-1980s onwards, following encounters with Stéphane Grappelli and Larry Coryell, he embarked on an increasingly fusion-oriented path, while never losing his connection to his roots.

His career includes collaborations with John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, Mike Stern and Jaco Pastorius, alongside a discography spanning Manouche jazz, acoustic music, fusion and orchestral projects.

Today, Lagrène continues to move between tradition and exploration. Elegant People, his 2026 project, brings together a new line-up around a repertoire combining original compositions and selected pieces, with an emphasis on interaction and the collective dimension of sound. A natural evolution for a musician who has always regarded technique as a means rather than an end.

Lagrène’s appearance at Villa Medici thus brings to Rome a central figure in contemporary jazz guitar, capable of bringing together the legacy of Django Reinhardt with an openness to different languages, musicians and generations. It is an artistic journey in which tradition has never been a limitation, but the starting point for a constantly evolving search.

The programme may be subject to change.