Francesco Piemontesi
Pianist Francesco Piemontesi Joins the Roster
Opus 3 Artists is thrilled to welcome pianist Francesco Piemontesi to the roster for North America. He is a pianist of exceptional refinement of expression, which is allied to a consummate technical skill. Widely renowned for his interpretation of Mozart and the early Romantic repertoire, Piemontesi’s pianism and sensibility has a close affinity too with the later 19th century and 20th century repertoire of Brahms, Liszt, Dvořák, Ravel, Debussy, Bartók and beyond. Of one of his great teachers and mentors, Alfred Brendel, Piemontesi says that Brendel taught him “to love the detail of things”.
The 2022/23 season leads the “Wizard of Sound” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) to orchestras such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Dallas Symphony orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Wiener Symphoniker, and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Artist in Residence this season both at Dresdner Philharmonie and at Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Piemontesi reveals all mesmerizing facets of his artistry in concerto, recital and chamber music appearances and takes his audience on a discovery journey through the Classical, early Romanticism and French early 20th century periods. Praised by Sir Antonio Pappano for the “wonderful combination of head and heart in his playing”, Piemontesi returns to the Orchestra Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia to work with Juraj Valčuha and brings Beethoven’s ‘The Emperor’ concerto to l’Orchestra Sinfónica della RAI with Constantinos Carydis. He also reunites with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer for a tour of Spain and performs Schumann’s piano concerto – the first significant piano concerto of the early Romanticism – at Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin and on tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In recital, Piemontesi delivers pure piano poetry to Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Rheingau Musik Festival and to the Wigmore Hall, where he was celebrated for the Mozart Odyssey of complete piano sonatas performed throughout previous seasons. Following a major Schubert cycle in the past, Piemontesi returns to Schubertiade Schwarzenberg with three performances.
Born in Locarno, Francesco Piemontesi studied with Arie Vardi before working with Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Cécile Ousset and Alexis Weissenberg. He rose to international prominence with prizes at several major competitions, including the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition. Since 2012, Piemontesi has been the Artistic Director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona.