The first laureate in 1999 of the Montreux Jazz Festival International Piano Solo Competition -and the only Swiss to have won it so far- Leo Tardin has since released six albums with his Grand Pianoramax project, with which he has performed all over the world. He collaborated with American rappers Black Cracker, Mike Ladd, Invincible, French poet Spleen and jazz greats such as Roy Ayers, Erik Truffaz and Grégoire Maret. He lived ten years in New York, where he graduated from the New School University and got signed to the ObliqSound record label, followed by two years in Berlin, before setting base back in Geneva, his hometown, where he teaches and is a dean at ETM.