“…what command Piemontesi displayed, how impressive his singing tone right from the beginning. After the interval came three of Debussy’s Preludes: here there was a glorious range of colour, with quiet and thoughtful brooding juxtaposed against powerful explosions of sound.”
Fono Forum
Born in 1983 in Switzerland, Francesco Piemontesi first came to international prominence as a prize winner in the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and through his close collaboration with the pianists Alfred Brendel, Cécile Ousset and Alexis Weissenberg. He studied with Nora Doallo in Lugano and with Arie Vardi in Hannover.
Soon after his participation in the Queen Elisabeth Competition Piemontesi was invited to perform at many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Vienna Musikverein, New York Carnegie Hall and Tokyo Suntory Hall. Martha Argerich personally invited him to her festival in Lugano where he now appears every year, while other festival appearances have included the BBC Proms, Schleswig Holstein, City of London Festival, Roque d'Anthéron, Lille, Cheltenham, Klavierfest Ruhr and Rheingau. In 2009, Francesco Piemontesi received a Fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, and was also announced as a BBC New Generation Artist.
As a concerto soloist, Piemontesi has quickly earned a superb reputation particularly for his interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. He has performed as soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Camerata Salzburg and the Vienna, Zurich and Scottish Chamber Orchestras. He has collaborated with such conductors as Jiri Belohlavek, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Manze, Vasily Petrenko, Mikhail Pletnev, Thierry Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Dimitry Kitajenko, Kazuki Yamada, Paul Goodwin, Lawrence Foster and Bruno Weil.
Highlights of the 11/12 season include Piemontesi’s debuts with the London Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as well a return to the Northern Sinfonia and a tour with Zubin Mehta and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He will give recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron, Bad Kissingen Festival, Munich, Frankfurt, Prague, Madrid, Milan and Florence.
Piemontesi nurtures a particular artistic interest in chamber music. He has played with Renaud und Gautier Capuçon, Emmanuel Pahud, Heinrich Schiff, Jörg Widmann, Antoine Tamestit, Veronika Eberle, Daniel Mueller-Schott and the Ebène Quartet.
Piemontesi has recorded for EMI Classics as part of the Martha Argerich and Friends series, released a highly acclaimed Schumann recording for Claves Records and most recently a recital CD for avanticlassic with works by Handel, Brahms, Bach and Liszt.
Francesco Piemontesi is represented by Intermusica.
July 2011 / 429 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material
Mozart / Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale with Zubin Mehta
"In Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major K503 Francesco Piemontesi proved to be a subtle, technically brilliant pianist with the clearest articulation. The orchestra played in wonderful balance with the pianist and the first piano solo developed out of the long orchestral exposition in an almost improvisational manner…Mehta was devoted to the orchestra and the soloist in equal measure thus creating a fantastic unity. This was Mozart performed with the greatest maturity but also lightness. Piemontesi’s encore, the finale of Stravinsky’s Firebird in the arrangement for piano solo showed once again the virtuoso brilliance of the young talent."
Luzerner Zeitung, 13 November 2011
"Two opposites met in Mozart’s Piano Concerto K503: On the one hand Mehta, the grandseigneur: confident and poised. On the other hand the young Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi: modest but with a youthful charm. The astonishing result: an organically flowing Mozart, because Piemontesi spun out the complex lines with a graceful, beautiful sound. But far from dwelling in this beautiful sound in a narcissistic way, he adeptly and delicately integrated it into the web of orchestral voices. This Mozart was one of great subtlety. It sounded not reduced, not augmented, not indulgent, but instead radiant and natural."
Tages-Anzeiger, 11 November 2011
"Francesco Piemontesi performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 K503 in a transparent way, using the pedal sparingly and creating beautifully effervescent runs while Mehta reins in the orchestra ensuring the balance with the piano. It quickly became apparent what this young pianist is capable of."
Der Bund, 10 November 2011
"Right from the start of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C major K503 Piemontesi was wholly engrossed in the music, soundlessly imitating the orchestral exposition on the keyboard before starting his solo with a crystalline light touch, making every run sparkle while at the same time giving them structure – a combination of superlative technique and extraordinary taste. Everything was given fresh colouring and his performance featured playing of the softest and most personal manner. This allowed Piemontesi to also bring out the dark powers in the Andante, while he kept a tight rein in the Allegretto in order to highlight every nuance... Mehta and Piemontesi created a refreshingly lively Mozart."
Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 9 November 2011
Frankfurt / Mozart, Debussy, Liszt, Schubert
“Every aspect of this most impressive recital demonstrated the remarkable abilities of this young musician…his wide range of expression, combined with his technical brilliance, confident sense of style and clearly structured dynamic phrasing….Piemontesi once again gave a commanding performance, excelling in every last detail; his interpretation of the closing rondo [of Schubert’s piano sonata no.20 in A major D.959] had an almost poetic force.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 2011
Handel / Brahms / Bach / Liszt (avanticlassic)
“a musician of rare intelligence”
Sunday Times, August 2011
“Clarity of thought is complemented by clarity of touch, incisive intellect by a good dose of fantasy.”
BBC Music Magazine, August 2011
“composer wins over ego, musical integrity over flashiness, tireless preparation over hopeful inspiration….This pianist reveals a powerful gift of intimacy. You have to stop and listen.”
The Observer, August 2011
“Piemontesi will soon be regarded as one of the great pianists of our time. He plays with phenomenal appreciation of sound, sophisticated technique and high intelligence – all of which point towards a brilliant career…”
Radio Bremen, August 2011
“an impressive recital with musicality in abundance”
Pianist, August 2011
“The young Swiss-Italian Francesco Piemontesi combines communicative panache with remarkable insight. He prefaces a virile, sensitive performance of Brahms’s Handel Variations with a stylistically discerning one of the Handel suite from which Brahms took his theme. Bach’s Partita No1, Liszt’s transcription of the G minor Fantasy and Fugue and Vallée d’Obermann provide further evidence of Piemontesi’s exceptional talent.“
The Telegraph, August 2011
“The name of this young Swiss pianist was unknown to us. But this record, intelligently constructed, which combines the works of Brahms and Liszt to their direct sources in Bach and Handel, gives us a great desire to learn more. Intelligence, refinement, elegance of tone, as well as complete clarity of polyphony are all characteristic of this musician, born in 1983. This is particularly beneficial in Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, which is superbly interpreted.”
Le Monde, June 2011
“Franceso Piemontesi's latest recital disc confirms the fine impression left by his set of Schumann's piano sonatas released by Claves last year. There's a real aristocratic sweep to this 27-year-old Swiss pianist's playing; the Handel suite is generously expressive, while Piemontesi's account of the Brahms Variations themselves is full of delicacy and transparent textures that make you hang on every phrase. Liszt's transcription of Bach's G minor Fantasy and Fugue makes the neat link between the first partita and the extract from the first book of the Années de Pèlerinage. Piemontesi's unaffected Bach playing is recognisably all of a piece with his fundamentally unflamboyant approach to Liszt, which manages to present the rhetorical grandeur of Vallée d'Obermann truthfully, without exaggerating it in any way.”
The Guardian, June 2011
City of London Festival / Chopin, Debussy, Schumann
“There were many poetic insights here, from the surging romanticism of the opening to the beautiful lyricism of its successor … and its sudden departures to faster music were always tempered by the calm of the romance to which it returned. Piemontesi proved extremely adept at proceeding between moments of urgency and repose. The fifth piece, marked Sehr lebhaft, moved with particular intent. As so often with Kreisleriana, it was the last section that carried the greatest emotional weight, its strangely haunting theme like a restless butterfly. Piemontesi caught the essence of this quite beautifully and allowing silence to complete the performance. As an encore Piemontesi stayed with Schumann, the finale of Kinderszenen, ‘Der Dichter spricht’, which displayed the pianist’s poise and grace.”
Classical Source, July 2011
Handel / Brahms / Bach / Liszt (avanticlassic)
“The name of this young Swiss pianist was unknown to us. But this record, intelligently constructed, which combines the works of Brahms and Liszt to their direct sources in Bach and Handel, gives us a great desire to learn more. Intelligence, refinement, elegance of tone, as well as complete clarity of polyphony are all characteristic of this musician, born in 1983. This is particularly beneficial in Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, which is superbly interpreted.”
Le Monde, June 2011
Wigmore Hall / Janacek, Beethoven, Stravinksy (arr. Agosti)
“Piemontesi brilliantly caught the Beethoven’s Sonata in A Opus 101’s obliquely poetic character, with a pervasively warm cantabile in the first movement, a velvet-pawed second-movement march, and a muscular fugue in the finale. Concluding with Guido Agosti’s flamboyant arrangement of three movements of Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird Suite’, and giving as an encore an exquisitely ornamented Handel minuet, this young Swiss virtuoso forcefully reminded us why his country is so proud of him.”
Michael Church, The Independent, December 2010
Schumann Piano Sonatas Nos.1-3 and Fantasy in C major (Claves)
“His playing is intelligent and refined, and he commands a prodigious range of keyboard touch and colour, combined with remarkable powers of articulation... Piemontesi’s playing is always a delight.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, August 2010
BBC Proms recital / Debussy, Schumann
“They (Francesco Piemontesi and the Navarra Quartet) launched into Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major with such assurance that they might have been collaborating for years... Piemontesi and the Navarras gave it the requisite declamatory spaciousness from the start. As with Schumann’s piano concerto proper, this work involves constant dialogue between soloist and ensemble: with Piemontesi leading the way, they made a thrilling journey through an emotional landscape by turns sweet, spooky, throbbingly combustible, and liberatingly joyous...Piemontesi – one of the BBC’s New Generation artists – is a brand-leader for Debussy: using a completely different palette from the one he revealed in the Schumann, he gave a series of preludes the most exquisitely translucent characterisation.”
Michael Church, The Independent, July 2010
City of London Festival recital / Bach, Tognetti & Schumann
“In Bach's 1st Partita, Piemontesi's tender moulding of the phrases and meditative tempos gave the impression of a musing, introverted performer. But later he slipped in witty moments of improvised ornamentation, which hinted at something potentially wild in this studious-looking young man.
In Schumann's eccentric, Spanish-tinged 1st sonata, it burst out again with full force. Here Piemontesi seemed a different man, throwing off Schumann's Scherzo at breakneck speed, injecting an ostentatious swagger into the theatrical episodes, and making the twist and turns of the finale seem both disturbingly weird and completely necessary.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, July 2010
Further reviews
"This extraordinary pianist's performance was emblematic of his entire program. Mr. Piemontesi is absolutely fearless. His programm started and ended with the familiar (Mozart and Chopin). But in between were works that were unfamiliar, technically challenging, and which could have been tossed off with the confident lightness of genius. That, though, is hardly the way Mr. Piemontesi works. In fact, the inner passionate voices which he obviously feels are transported directly to his piano, with no barriers for the audience. The two-movement Janácek, rescued from the river, gave clear evidence of the pianist's emotional mentality. And while Jancèek may have thought the Sonata unworthy (he threw it into the Danube), when played by Piemontesi, this writer—and I daresay most of the Weill Hall audience—was mesmerized. While Stravinsky made several piano versions of his ballets, the Firebird, arranged by a student of Busoni, was new, and breathtaking. By the finale, I was listening to voices which I'd never heard in the orchestra (and checked with my orchestral score later that they really were there).
The next two works were a fairly well known Prelude by Henri Dutilleux and a world premiere. The Dutilleux became a series of mirrors and resonances, themes peeping out from the digital roughage, hiding, darting in reverse a minute later. The world premiere by Eric Tanguy was a Toccata, a terrific showpiece which had the right musician to show it.Finally was Chopin's Third Sonata, starting with a most majestic opening, and a wonderful finale again with those bass melodies sometimes leading on the whizzing top notes. The Scherzo, though, was most memorable, the fingers glistening over the key, but leaving as much room for the poetry as the panache.”
Concerto, January 2009
“From the beginning he played Mozart's B flat Sonata with boundless energy and understanding of rhetoric. Piemontesi chose to continue the program with Beethoven's late piano sonata in A flat major, opus 110, which presents several technical difficulties in both slow movements and in the final fugue. And what command Piemontesi displayed, how impressive his singing tone right at the beginning of the sonata. After the interval three Preludes of Debussy, glorious play of colour, quiet and thoughtful brooding juxtaposed against powerful explosions of sound. Then three dances from Stravinsky's Firebird, which Piemontesi executed with not only strictness of form, but also with picturesque, declamatory pianism.
On his birthday he gave himself and his listeners the most beautiful gift. Without a doubt a happy choice by the direction of the Festival."
Fono Forum, April 2008
"Piemontesi left an immaculate impression. His satin-like touch in Mozart's third B flat sonata created a light and brilliant flow. He approaches the demanding first movement of Beethoven's A flat sonata with restraint and lightness, reminiscent of Mozart; he convinces the listener in the forward-driving chordal passages of the fast movements by his pianistic mastery. Similarly virtuosic and rhythmic, he mastered Stravinsky's Three Dances from The Firebird."
Nord-Rhein-Zeitung, July 2007
"Now and again miracles happen and a small musical miracle took place on Friday evening. In the great hall of the Saarlandischer Rundfunk the 37 year old Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård swung the baton joyfully and the 23 year old Swiss Italian Francesco Piemontesi dived with devotion into the sound cascades of Grieg's piano concerto. With a brilliant technique he employed the entire breadth of atmosphere, from sheer power to sensitive, refined lyricism."
Saarbrücker Zeitung, June 2006