Bio
Danilo Boggini, an accordionist, pianist, composer, and arranger born in Giubiasco (Canton Ticino) on September 9, 1967, balances his jazz career with collaborations with artists from diverse backgrounds, working primarily between Switzerland and Italy.
In the jazz scene, he has performed alongside musicians such as Flavio Boltro, Marco Castiglioni, Antonio Cervellino, Marco Conti, Franco D’Auria, Jacopo Delfini, Eleonora D'Ettole, Sandro Di Pisa, Pierluigi Ferrari, Alfredo Ferrario, Michael Fleiner, Massimo Gatti, Oliviero Giovannoni, Daniele Gregolin, Alberto Guareschi, Luca Giugno, Francesco Licitra, Flavio Minardo, Danilo Minotti, Dario Napoli, Alessio Pacifico, Mauro Pesenti, Max Pizio, Manuela Ravaglioli, Marco Antonio Ricci, Tullio Ricci, Stefan Rigert, Alberto Schinelli, Daniel Schläppi, Sandro Schneebeli, Massimo Scoca, Emilio Soana, Luigi Tognoli, Paolo Tomelleri, Isabella Tosca, Valbonetti, Carlo Uboldi, and Beatrice Zanolin, while also working alongside Ferruccio Cainero, Barbara Ciannamea, Giorgio Conte, Fabio Di Casola, Dimitri, Duilio Galfetti, Gianluca Grossi, Claude Hauri, Krishan Krone, Anton Jablokov, Valentina Londino, Lova, Nella Martinetti, Piero Mazzarella, Gian Gilberto Monti, Folco Orselli, Fabrizio Saccomanno, Claudio Sanfilippo, Giorgos Stavrakakis, Marc Rossier, Flavio Sala, Irina Simoneta, Teatro dei Fauni, Davide Van De Sfroos, Daria Zappa, Mattia Zappa, and Marco Zappa. A session musician for numerous local and Italian ensembles, Boggini founded the Astrea Ensemble in 1998, a group that explores tango from its origins to the present day, while also offering a rich collection of original compositions (CD: Astrea Ensemble, *From Tango to Jazz*, Altrisuoni, 2002), which served as the soundtrack for Swiss Radio’s Rete 2 from 2001 to 2005—composed, arranged, and performed by the group’s members.
In 2001, he formed the Accordion Project with Milanese guitarist Sandro Di Pisa, a group that, moving between bebop and musette and oscillating between Charlie Parker and Edith Piaf, focuses its repertoire on that particular blend of jazz and folk music that characterized Paris in the 1940s and 1950s (the group has released three CDs: *Accordion Project*, MAP, 2003; *Hommage à Jacques Brel*, Altrisuoni, 2005; *Extravagantes*, Altrisuoni, 2010).
Among his numerous collaborations with other artists, his participation in the composition and recording of the soundtrack for the television series *Avvocati*, produced in 2003–2004 by Swiss Television, is particularly noteworthy (he has also made many radio and television appearances on all national networks and some private Italian radio stations). That same year, as part of the *QuantiAmori* tour—where he accompanied Marco Zappa as a musician and co-arranger—he was nominated for the Goldener Thunfisch Award, given to the best Swiss artistic-theatrical production of the year.
In 2005, he was chosen as the official demonstrator for the prestigious Ranco accordion factory, which has been in operation since 1890. In 2006, he was awarded recognition by the Swiss section of the Association des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (AMOPA) for his contribution to the promotion of French culture.
In 2007, the Accordion Project concert *Petit hommage à Jacques Brel* was recorded in high definition and broadcast on several occasions on the new HD Suisse channel. It was the second high-definition production ever produced by TV Svizzera Italiana.
In 2009, a collaboration with guitarist Pierluigi Ferrari and singer Manuela Ravaglioli gave rise to the Malena Trio, a group that released its first CD, *Soltango*, the following year, dedicated to early Argentine tango.
In 2011, he composed the music for Ferruccio Cainero’s play *Leggendo fuori stagione* (later released as a CD of the same name), the final piece of a trilogy that also includes *Cantaladinamo* (2006) and *Guerrieri dell’arcobaleno* (2009).
In 2011, he founded the Swing Power quartet, with which he launched a series of successful lecture-concerts titled *Fascismo a tempo di jazz*.
In 2013, he composed the music for Giovanni Orelli’s *L’anno della valanga*, for Ferruccio Cainero’s stage adaptation. The production, which sold out three times at the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona, went on tour in 2014 for a total of over 20 performances.
In 2013, *Pippo non lo sa*, Swing Power’s first CD, was released and presented over four intense evenings at JazzAscona 2013. In October, the band’s new show, titled *Domenica è sempre domenica*, debuted on the centennial of Gorni Kramer’s birth.
*Pippo non lo sa* earned excellent reviews in *Musica Jazz* and *Guitar Club*; in particular, *Musica Jazz* noted that “this CD is not a trip down memory lane but a timeless journey, as the quartet avoids the risk of nostalgia with a grace that is, indeed, from another era.”
In September 2015, Swing Power was invited to perform at the inauguration of the LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) cultural center.
In August 2016, he participated as an arranger and musician in the musical theater production *Occhi che raccontano*, co-produced by Musica nel Mendrisiotto and the Festival della Narrazione in Arzo, and broadcast live on RSI Rete2.
On September 17, 2016, a new adventure began for Swing Power in Lausanne, with a morning concert broadcast live on RTS1 and an evening performance as part of the Festival Label Suisse. With the arrival of singer-songwriter Claudio Sanfilippo (whose credits include songs for Mina, Finardi, Bertoli, and Cristiano de André, as well as the 1996 Targa Tenco Award for best debut album), the group began working on a new show dedicated to the great classics of Milanese song, reinterpreted through the jazz-infused atmosphere that has always characterized the band. The CD launch, titled *Sotta a 'sti mür*, took place on April 1, 2017, at the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona; a track from the album was included in the soundtrack of Giovanni Bedeschi’s film *Pane dal cielo*, which won the awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 2018 edition of the Mirabile Dictu Festival.
Between 2016 and 2018, he participated as an arranger and instrumentalist in the theatrical trilogy titled *Albergo della luce*, commissioned by OTAF to mark the centennial of its founding, directed by Alessandra Ghiglione, featuring actors Antonella Enrietto and Alberto Pagliarino, and, among others, cellist Claude Hauri and singer Valentina Londino.
Between 2017 and 2018, he composed the soundtrack for the play *Pirandello Pipistrello*, commissioned by the University of Zurich from Ferruccio Cainero to mark the 150th anniversary of the Sicilian writer’s birth. He also took part in the tour of the German version of the play, produced by Krishan Krone and titled *Himmel aus Papier*.
In April 2018, he recorded a solo CD titled *Fil Rouge*, featuring a special guest appearance by Flavio Boltro. The album, released by the Altrisuoni label, was officially presented to the public at JazzAscona 2019. In early June, he contributed to Claudio Sanfilippo’s new album, *Ilzendelswing II*.
In 2019, he was invited, along with four other composers (Maria Bonzanigo, Oliviero Giovannoni, Peter Zemp, and Massimo Gaia), to participate in the Bandella project commissioned by the Alpentöne festival; his piece *Rho fiera* was included on the festival’s commemorative CD.
Also in 2019, he began a collaboration with the Teatro dei Fauni that continues to this day, composing the soundtrack for the show *Anime e sassi*.
In 2020, he composed the soundtrack for the show *La città*, by Gianluca Grossi, with whom he had already been collaborating for several years. On that occasion, he met violinist Anton Jablokov, with whom he founded the Hot Club de Suisse; the group was later joined by Daniele Gregolin on guitar and vocals and Marco Ricci on double bass.
In 2021, he appeared in the documentary *Roberto Leydi ieri e oggi*, where, alongside Roberto Farina—who had since taken over as head of Ranco—he discussed his unique relationship with the renowned accordion brand. The film will air on November 12, 2023, as part of the RSI program “Paganini.”
In 2022, alongside Claude Hauri on cello and Anton Jablokov on violin, he founded the Trio Czardas, an ensemble that primarily explores classical music, Argentine tango, and klezmer.
In 2023, the project “Edith Piaf, l’anima Jazz” was launched, for which he wrote the lyrics (performed by actress Elda Olivieri) and created the arrangements. Joining him were singer Beatrice Zanolini and musicians Valbonetti, Marco Ricci, and Mauro Pesenti; these same musicians would go on to contribute to the CDs *Penzéi senza Penzéi* by Alfredo Parolini (2025) and *35 anni in armonia* by The Golden Hill Voices (2026, featuring Daniele Gregolin on guitar), both entirely arranged by Boggini.
In September, he performed with the Quartetto del Verbano at the Bellinzona Folk Music Festival.
In 2024, he composed the soundtrack for Gianluca Grossi’s show *Servito a zero*; alongside the two of them, on drums and hanpan, was their son Francesco Boggini. In November, Hot Club de Suisse took on a new look with the arrival of Jacopo Delfini and Dario Napoli, undoubtedly one of the greatest virtuosos on the manouche scene.
On May 23, 2025, the show *La donna e l’immaginario, canzoni tra le due guerre* aired on RSI la Due, featuring the vocals of Angela Convento and the acting of Roberto Regazzoni.
Simona Lovi (vocals), Luca Giugno (guitars), and Massimo Scoca (double bass), while a concert is scheduled for September 20 as part of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona, with Daria Zappa on violin and Mattia Zappa on cello.
He balances his work as a professional musician with his role as an Italian teacher at the Liceo Cantonale in Bellinzona. He earned his bachelor’s degree in literature in 1991 at the University of Fribourg with a thesis titled *La poesia per musica di Ottavio Rinuccini* (Ottavio Rinuccini’s Poetry Set to Music), for which he was awarded the “Nuova Antologia” prize in the youth category in 1994.
In 2002, he earned his doctorate from the same university, summa cum laude, with his dissertation *The Poems of Ottavio Rinuccini: A Critical Edition*.