You’ll be performing in Brisbane for the very first time on February 11. What should the audience expect from your concert in the QPAC Concert Hall?
It’s a concert that represents quite well the different characters of my music, from the solo intimate parts to the more epic and rhythmic dimensions. We play together as musicians but also as good friends, and this brings out something special in every concert.

We heard your mother used to play the piano to you as a child, did this introduce you to the pleasure of music?
Yes I got in touch with music through the piano playing of my mother; she used to play mainly Bach and Chopin, together with some French children songs for me and my sisters. Also, my older sisters were playing a lot of records at home – The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones – this was also very important for my musical education.

Did you fall in love with music straight away?
I started to be connected with it quite naturally – it’s probably the same for every person who experiences something specific without even thinking too much about it. It’s only when you go away from it that you to start to miss it.

There have been whispers that the first songs you ever composed were on the guitar …
I used to play and improvise on my guitar when I was a teenager. There isn’t a specific music that I remember, it’s more like memories of small variations on melodies, chords and arpeggios that I enjoyed to play over and over. In those teenage years of inner turbulence, the guitar was my best friend.

You started your career as a classical composer and later incorporated other styles and genres of music. What influenced this transition?
I studied classical composition and, when I finished, I tried and tried until I felt there were all the elements I needed to create my musical world. So the transition was to figure out how I could achieve that, if I was able to create the musical world that I had in mind. Actually the transition never stops as you keep writing. It’s always a new transition.

You’ve played in some incredible venues all around the world – which has been your most memorable concert so far?
Maybe last year at the Arena di Verona with 14.000 people listening silently under the rain.

No doubt it’s taken a lot of perseverance and patience to achieve all that you have. What’s your advice for dealing with challenges?
Well it’s very fascinating to see what people can achieve, day after day. I like the artisan side of the artists; the fact that even the most challenging projects need patience and perseverance to be realised.

What influences and inspires your work?
My curiosity for the world, talking with other people, reading, being with my eyes open, having fun in connecting ideas.

What do you believe is your greatest career achievement so far?
When other people get inspiration from what I do, young people who enjoy playing my music, people who write new stories with my music and stimulating creativity in other people.

Of all the songs that you’ve composed over the years, do you have a few personal favourites you can share?
Every composition is connected to a period of my life and for that, it’s difficult to pick up a favourite one. They’re all different moments of an evolution.

Finally, what’s your personal definition of ‘success’?
To be able to freely express your visions and share them with other people.