Talking Frogs & Crocodile

• Franca Pullia vocals,
• Enrico Brion piano,
• Stefano Gajon clarinet.

The “Talking Frogs” project takes its name from the first song that Franca Pullia (vocals) and Enrico Brion (piano) played together: “Halfway Down the Stairs” famously performed by Robin, the frog nephew of Kermit, the host of The Muppet Show. Over time, the duo has expanded to include various collaborations, among which the one with “the Crocodile” has solidified: Stefano Gajon, an eclectic and… scaly clarinettist and multi-instrumentalist.
Franca, an active solo and choir singer, Enrico, a composer and arranger, and Stefano propose their personal reinterpretations of well-known and lesser-known songs, both Italian and international. Their repertoire ranges from Lucio Dalla to Giorgio Gaber, Kate Bush to Michael Jackson, The Beatles to Hall & Oates, and Procol Harum to Stevie Wonder, along with a few unreleased gems.

Enrico Brion

A composer and pianist, he trained with Paolo Birro, Marcello Tonolo, and Fabio Nieder, further refining his skills at the Berklee College of Music (Umbria Jazz Clinics) and the Conservatories of Trieste and Rovigo. He has participated in advanced specialization courses with internationally renowned musicians, including Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, and Franco D’Andrea.
Active since the 1990s, he was the creator of the Myfavoritìngs Festival (2008-2014) and co-founder of the Orchestra Componibile. A finalist in the International Competition for Big Band Composition at Barga Jazz (2015), he has composed music for cinema (E oggi come va?, 2023) and for dance theatre (La Distanza della Luna from Italo Calvino, 2023). In 2024, he released AstroCo(s)micOrk, inspired by Calvino’s Cosmicomics, and a vinyl record of pieces for string orchestra.
Concurrently, he is intensely active as an educator, teaching composition and harmony courses in various schools and online. During the lockdown, he launched the Armonia Canaglia project on YouTube. His discography includes Elisewin (2003), Quadrivio (2012), AstroCo(s)micOrk (2024), and two albums with the Orchestra Componibile.

Franca Pullia

A singer and vocalist, she studied at “Il Suono Improvviso” in Venice and the “Miles Davis School,” participating in numerous international workshops with artists such as Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, and Giovanni Falzone. She has deepened her vocal technique, interpretation, and stagecraft with distinguished teachers and has studied overtone singing with Trang Quan Hai. Since 2013, she has been exploring songwriting and participating in vocal improvisation projects with electric bass.
She has performed with various ensembles, including “The Groovers Big Band,” “Soul Power,” “Frankie back from Hollywood,” and “Women back from Hollywood.” She is also a member of the “Soul Kitchen Music Feast” project, which brings music to social contexts. She has participated in numerous shows, such as the musical Il Veneziano and the tribute to Lucio Dalla, Com’è profondo il mare.
Since 2009, she has been a modern singing teacher at the Miles Davis School in Mestre. Since 2015, she has been promoting charity events like “Music for Rose” to raise funds for sick children. She collaborates with various associations for musical events and with the social cooperative “Rio Terà dei Pensieri” for concerts in the Giudecca women’s prison.

Stefano Gajon

A musician who graduated with top honours in Clarinet from the “B. Marcello” Conservatory of Venice (1995) and later in Jazz (2003), he has pursued further studies and masterclasses with prominent masters (including Fabio Di Casola and Corrado Orlando). In 2011, he obtained a two-year teaching qualification diploma.
His artistic activity spans diverse musical languages—jazz, Balkan and folk music, classical, contemporary classical, and prose theatre—with prestigious collaborations with artists such as Heinz Holliger, Antonio Pappano, Bruno Canino, Mariangela Melato, Caterina Caselli, Tullio De Piscopo, and Rossana Casale, as well as numerous national and international performers.
He has performed in major theatres and concert halls in Italy and abroad (including Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Teatro Quirino in Rome, Tokyo Opera City, Osaka Symphony Hall, and Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall). In parallel, he has developed skills in sound recording, founding his own project studio.
In 2000, he co-founded the Quartoinfolio quartet, with which he released the CD QIF (Caligola Records, 2006). He collaborated with the Teatro Stabile di Genova (2002-2004) on the production of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, directed by Marco Sciaccaluga. In 2009, he participated in a project with Sugar Music for Josh Groban’s album Illuminations.
In 2017, for the anniversary of Aidel22 Onlus at the Teatro La Fenice, he composed and arranged the Magical Medley for orchestra and children’s choir. He currently collaborates regularly with Tullio De Piscopo, Carlo Colombo, Daniele Labelli, the Daniele Vianello 5tet, and the Zvuk Rec Studio in Venice.