Francesco Piemontesi
Sabine Frank
Nadja Saborova
“It was playful, assertive, intelligent music-making, with bone-china clarity from Piemontesi”
The Times
Artistic Director: Settimane Musicali di Ascona
Artist in Residence: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande 2020/21
Francesco Piemontesi 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 Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Wiener Symphoniker, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Chicago, Pittsburgh & Dallas Symphony orchestras. 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.
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Piemontesi appears alongside the world’s leading orchestras from the Berliner Philharmoniker to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and from London to NHK Symphony Orchestras and is regular guest at festivals such as the Salzburg, Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein Musk festivals, as well as the BBC Proms. Recent highlights include appearances with the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He has performed with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Ton Koopman, Zubin Mehta, Roger Norrington, Gianandrea Noseda, Yuri Temirkanov, Joana Mallwitz, Herbert Blomstedt, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Karina Canellakis and Thomas Søndergård. As adept on the concerto stage as he is in smaller chamber combinations, Piemontesi appears with a variety of partners including Leif Ove Andsnes, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Stephen Kovacevich, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff, Jörg Widmann, Tabea Zimmermann, Janine Janssen, Augustin Hadelich and the Emerson Quartet. In the past he has appeared in many prestigious venues including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York. He has performed at the Edinburgh, Verbier and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, La Roque d’Anthéron, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festivals and at New York Mostly Mozart.
The Wall Street Journal commented upon Schubert’s last three sonatas recorded by Piemontesi for Pentatone in 2019: “His deep affinity for the music is evident in the way he captures the ebb and flow of each movement, the pearlescent tone he delivers when appropriate and the abundance of telling details”. Other recordings include a 2022 recording for Pentatone of Ravel’s Piano Concerto, Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques and Schönberg’s Piano Concerto with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as part of his residency there, which was to become the first residency the Orchestra has ever named, Liszt’s Années de Pelerinage for Orfeo, Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Andrew Manze on Linn. Piemontesi also demonstrated his deep affinity with Debussy’s Impressionist world in his recording of the “Préludes” for Naïve.
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.
HarrisonParrott represents Francesco Piemontesi for worldwide general management.
“Piemontesi’s unfussy, rarely flamboyant style is a good fit, opening the floodgates to
a range of expression and intensity that instantly reels you in.”
“Piemontesi devotes to Schubert’s late A major Sonata D 959 dedication and
perseverance and he is one of the few who can immediately perform with the correct
tone required for Schubert (Pentatone). Most impressive indeed is his approach to
Schubert’s last death-desiring B‑flat major Sonata, which one rarely hears so
unpretentiously and so comprehensively and thoughtfully.”
“[Piemontesi] performs these three outstanding works with fleet fingers and
exceptional insight. His deep affinity for the music is evident in the way he captures
the ebb and flow of each movement; the pearlescent tone he delivers when
appropriate; and the abundance of telling details…”
“It turned out that on both days the audience’s appreciation and acclamation was
primarily directed towards the man at the piano: Francesco Piemontesi showed
exactly the level of subtlety the Larghetto deserves, but also a lot of joyful energy. The
acclaimed pianist also delighted with two encores […]”
“Piemontesi’s reentry balanced lyricism with panache, and he sailed through the
movement’s octaves, trills, rapid runs and other technical hurdles with thorough
command and conviction, pointing towards a coda grand and victorious.”
“[Piemontesi] played with grace, delicacy, and wonderful awareness of his musical
partners … The sheer variety of pianistic touch was a joy to behold. Legato and
pianissimo weren’t just smooth and soft here. In Piemontesi’s hands, they were silken
and preciously quiet.”
“He devoted the first half to Bach, a tremendous, majestic unfolding chiefly of Busoni
arrangements of organ works…Here was a new immensity of approach, and it
resulted in a mesmerising, prodigious account of Rachmaninov’s Sonata No 2 … and,
though it may, with its irresistible blend of swashbuckling power and searching
reflectiveness, have felt like the ultimate piano sonata before, it certainly did so in
Piemontesi’s triumphant rendering.”
“Observing him [Piemontesi] play evoked the same feeling of awe I experience when
watching principal ballet dancers in action. It was evident that Piemontesi pays
exacting attention to form and technique, the effort exerted by each muscle, and each
passage’s relationship to its surrounding musical landscape … it sounded absolutely
effortless. Even in the sparkiest moments, Piemontesi landed on the notes with a light
bounce.”
“… his Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 was simply spellbinding: fresh and direct in a
supple opening movement; exquisitely blended and balanced in its singing slow
movement.”
“Piemontesi’s playing was flawless, meeting all technical difficulties: he made it look
effortless, with a feeling of spontaneity which prevailed throughout”
“Mr. Piemontesi drew out the reflective undercurrents even while playing with grace
and élan… I hope he returns to New York soon.”
“Francesco Piemontesi gave a definitive performance in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No
27 in B flat major… He brought generous warmth and spaciousness to the opening
movement, and lovely poise to the slow Larghetto; his sound was gloriously
transparent throughout.”
“There’s a quiet sense of command that is evident from the off… Throughout there’s a
tremendously clear sense of narrative, capturing both the grandeur and the myriad
hues of Liszt’s remarkable tone poem.”
“Unflustered technique and bold dynamics make for a persuasive account”
“Piemontesi is unfazed by the technical demands and delights in the pictorial aspects
of Liszt’s wanderings through his homeland. The lilting sixths of Pastorale recall the
composer’s love of Italian bel canto, while Piemontesi “sings” the melodies of the
Vallée d’Obermann with beguiling sensibility and revels in the sunny tintinnabulation of
Les Cloches de Genève.”
“Piemontesi’s account offers huge dynamic range… he never breaks the sound. The
Piano is perfectly prepard and recorded.”
“Francesco Piemontesi was the immaculate soloist in a similarly brisk but beautifully
detailed performance of the C‑minor Concerto, its intimacy underlined by the piano
facing inwards, lid-off, the orchestra embracing his sound.”
“Francesco Piemontesi was the crystalline soloist, suavely taking his lead from the
deliciously moulded introduction… With an unfussy pianist like Piemontesi matching
Norrington’s inventiveness this was a sparkling account.”
“[Piemontesi] has become a Mozartian to cherish. It’s hard to fault his sense of line,
structure and deft approach to detail in these two concertos from Mozart’s Vienna
period… Piemontesi’s polished playing is alert with exactly the kind of spontaneity
essential to great Mozart performance.”
“Another factor that lifted this concert well beyond the ordinary was the presence of
young Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi. He gave a wonderfully winning
performance of Mozart’s final piano concerto, faithful to the work’s dewdrop lucidity
and gentle nostalgia, but irradiated with joie de vivre too, in the way he garlanded
Mozart’s notes with stylish and witty flourishes of his own. The orchestra and
Gražinytė-Tyla were alert to his every move.”
