LEONARDO PIERDOMENICO / PIANIST
• BIOGRAPHY
Winner of the “Raymond E. Buck” Jury Discretionary Award at the 2017 Van Cliburn international piano competition, Leonardo Pierdomenico is described by the critics as “a pianist where highly developed technique and cultivated sound are combined with imagination and thoroughgoing, scrupulous musicality” (Patrick Rucker, Gramophone UK).
Among the highlights of the 22-23 season was the opening of the chamber music season at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, with the Italian premiere of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms in Shostakovich’s arrangement for piano duet and choir, and the recording for Brilliant Classics of Dvoràk’s piano concerto with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Vahan Mardirossian.
He performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Fort Worth Symphony, Orchestre Royal De Chambre de Wallonie, Teatro La Fenice Symphony Orchestra, LaVerdi Orchestra in Milan, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic and with conductor like Yves Abel, Diego Matheuz, Nicholas McGegan, James P. Liu, Jan Kucera, Vahan Mardirossian among the others.
Leonardo is regularly invited in the most important Italian and international concert halls and festivals, including: Sala Verdi of the Conservatory and Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Salle Moliére in Lyon, Maison de la radio in Paris, Chopin Festivals in Paris and in Nohant, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Filharmonia Narodowa in Warsaw, Flagey in Brussels, Liszt Festival in Utrecht, Bass Hall in Fort Worth (TX), Merkin concert hall in New York, Qin’tai concert hall in Wuhan, Bologna Festival, Fazioli concert hall.
He has already released three albums with the label Piano Classics: his debut album, dedicated to works by Franz Liszt, earned him an Editor’s Choice from Gramophone UK magazine and a nomination for recording of the year at the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik ( the prize of the union of German music critics).
Born in Abruzzo, Italy, Leonardo studied at the Conservatory in Pescara and in 2017 concluded the piano master’s degree with honors at the Accademia di S. Cecilia in Rome in the class of M° Benedetto Lupo.
He received guidance from Maestri Jeremy Denk, Jean–Yves Thibaudet, Jerome Lowenthal, Julian Martin and Leon Fleisher.
He is currently a student of the Lake Como International Piano Academy.
A fervent chamber musician, Leonardo collaborates regularly in duo with the cellist Erica Piccotti.
LEONARDO PIERDOMENICO / PIANIST
• DISCOGRAPHY
LEONARDO PIERDOMENICO / PIANIST
• PRESS
(...)His interesting programme spans Liszt’s career, with the early La romanesca composed in Paris, the Scherzo and March and two Ballades from the Weimar years, the St Francis Legends from 1860s Rome and the late Csárdás macabre from Budapest. Would that half the seasoned Lisztians I know had Pierdomenico’s keen ear for stylistic differentiation within this half-century of repertory. His highly developed technique and cultivated sound, both adaptable to a variety of affects, are wedded to those twin essentials for artistic Liszt-playing: imagination combined with thoroughgoing, scrupulous musicality.
His prodigious prestissimo leggiero, the ability to play extremely fast yet lightly, lends his Scherzo and March and Csárdás macabre quicksilver speed and tremendous power that never devolves into banging. His fioritura, that delicate filigree enhancement of melody used by Liszt and Chopin, envelops the D flat Ballade (No 1) with sensual charm and imbues ‘St Francis’s Sermon to the Birds’ with shimmering colours. La romanesca speaks with the chasteness of a Bartók folk-song transcription, maintaining its rustic simplicity through successive elaborations and embellishment. The exalted sound-painting of ‘St Francis Walking on the Waves’ is realised by Pierdomenico’s mastery of the ‘crescendo within crescendo’ effect, the scarcely perceptible pulling back at critical moments in an ostensibly seamless sound trajectory, unleashing huge volumes of sound that never exceed the resources of the piano. The B minor Ballade (No 2) occupies a vast canvas, though Pierdomenico avoids the overstated or melodramatic, opting instead for a heartfelt earnestness that creates a perfect symbiosis of the heroic and lyrical.
On the basis of his Liszt alone – and one may hear him in other repertoire on YouTube – I don’t hesitate to suggest that Pierdomenico is a musician of rare sensitivity and vision, and that following his further development will be a pleasure.
Patrick Rucker ( Gramophone)
