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 Alfred Brendel, Cécile Ousset and Alexis Weissenberg. He has performed at many prestigious concert halls, including the Vienna Musikverein, Zurich Tonhalle and New York Carnegie Hall as well as at festivals such as the Martha Argerich Project, BBC Proms, Roque d'Anthéron, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, City of London Festival and Schleswig Holstein. He received a Fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and is a BBC New Generation Artist. Francesco Piemontesi has quickly earned a superb reputation particularly for his interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin and Ravel. He has performed 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 Jiří Bělohlávek, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Manze, Vasily Petrenko, Mikhail Pletnev, Thierry Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Dimitry Kitajenko, Kazuki Yamada 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, Munich, Frankfurt, Prague, Madrid, Milan and Florence. Piemontesi nurtures a particular artistic interest in chamber music. He has played with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Emmanuel Pahud, Heinrich Schiff, Jörg Widmann, Antoine Tamestit, Veronika Eberle, Daniel Mueller-Schott and the Ebène Quartet. Piemontesi 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.
Photograph taken by Marco Borggreve
Recital CD on Avanti Classic
“Francesco Piemontesi combines communicative panache with remarkable insight...[an] exceptional talent”
Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph 6 August 2011
“...this pianist reveals a powerful gift of intimacy. You have to stop and listen.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer 31 July 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 from which Brahms extracted the theme of his Handel Variations is generously expressive, while Piemontesi's account of the Brahms Variations themselves, if not barnstorming exactly, is full of delicacy and transparent textures that make you hang on every phrase.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian 20 June 2011“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
First of all I would like to say how happy I am to be part of the BBT-Family. I say family because I really feel I am part of a background, where people invest much energy to support young people artistically and as human beings. Very important to me is the fact that there is no feeling of competition, only professional advice about how to use the fund and helpful discussions on how to plan my future as a musician and as a person. This is real idealism and I believe that the Trust represents one of those few examples of non-profit mentality, which nowadays seem to be so rare. Finally I would like to thank the BBT for creating the opportunity to meet great personalities like Mitsuko Uchida: I shall never forget the time we spent together working on Mozart Sonatas.