Born in 1983 in Switzerland, Francesco Piemontesi studied in Hannover with Arie Vardi and has subsequently gained valuable inspiration from his work with Alfred Brendel, Cécile Ousset, Mitsuko Uchida and Alexis Weissenberg. He is the recipient of numerous prizes at international competitions, notably the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, and in 2009 he was both awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2009-11.
He has also been presented the Swiss Ambassador's Award 2010. He has participated in the Schleswig-Holstein, Ruhr and Roque d'Anthéron Festivals as well as the Martha Argerich Project, and can already look back on performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Vienna Musikverein and Zurich Tonhalle. He has played as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Tonkünstler Orchestra, London Mozart Players and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with such conductors as Lawrence Foster, Mikhail Pletnev, Christoph Poppen, Vassily Petrenko and Bruno Weil. Highlights of the present season include debut performances with BBC Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic and Vienna Chamber Orchestras. He will also appear at Wigmore Hall in London and at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Francesco Piemontesi nurtures a special interest in chamber music and counts Yuri Bashmet, Renaud Capucon, Veronika Eberle, Christian Poltéra, Heinrich Schiff, Jörg Widmann, and the Quatuor Ébène among his music-making partners. Francesco has recorded for EMI Classics and has a new contract with the Swiss label Claves.
Photograph taken by Marco Borggreve