Guest ArtistsFabio Bidini, piano

Fabio Bidini is recognized as one of today’s most important pianists and pedagogues. Bernard Holland of the New York Times stated: “He is capable of an admirable simplicity…truly touching.”

At the age of five he was given his first piano lessons and, a half year later, he had his first public performance. In the following years he won 11 of the most important Italian piano competitions, including the Audience Prize. He graduated “Magna cum Laude” from the prestigious Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome and was one of the youngest-ever graduates from that institution. Pianists who made a significant contribution to his artistic development were Orazio Frugoni and Maria Tipo.

After winning top prizes in the several international piano competitions, Mr. Bidini’s sensational successes at the Busoni and at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competitions opened the door for his constantly growing international career.

His outstanding piano playing combines technical wizardry with poetic lyricism, leading to a glowing London debut in the Barbican Center with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas in the presence of Sir Georg Solti. Shortly after, he performed on the BBC’s “Introducing United Nations in Wales” program, and he had his highly acclaimed North American debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Yoel Levi.

Since then Mr. Bidini has been a frequent guest of the most prominent orchestras worldwide (San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philharmonia Orchestra of London and BBC Orchestra Wales) playing in the world´s most famous concert halls (Carnegie Hall, Kimmel Center Philadelphia, The Kennedy Center, Royal Festival Hall, Davies Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Rudolfinum, Auditorio Nacionál-Madrid, Auditorio de Zaragoza and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, among others).

He has also collaborated with leading conductors of our time, including Michael Tilson Thomas, Ivan Fischer, Andrey Boreyko, Zoltan Kocsis, Eri Klas, Gianandrea Noseda, Barry Wordsworth, Yoel Levi, Pavel Kogan, Louis Lane, Tadaaki Otaka, Mathias Bamert, Jesus Lopez Cobos, JoAnn Falletta, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Max Valdes, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Michael Christie, Carlos Prieto and Rossen Milanov among others.

He has been repeatedly invited to perform at prestigious festivals such as the Tuscan Sun Festival Cortona/ Napa, Festival Radio France Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, Stern Grove Festival, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Festival, Festival dei Due Mondi and the Grant Park Festival Chicago.

Mr. Bidini is also greatly in demand as a chamber music partner. He has enjoyed artistic collaboration with the American String Quartet, the Janáček Quartet, the Brodsky Quartet, the Szymanowski Quartet, the Modigliani Quartet, Zoltan Kocsis, Nikolaj Znaider, Johannes Moser, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Paula Robison, Corey Cerovsek, Wendy Warner, Eva Urbanova, Eva Mei, Nina Kotova, Alexis-Pia Gerlach, Maria Bachmann, Dimitri Ashkenazy and Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker. He has formed a formal duo with Ms. Hopcker and, with the publication of their debut CD of sonatas of Prokofiev and Richard Strauss, they have laid the foundations for extensive collaborations with the US American label True Sounds.

Mr. Bidini’s discography is comprised of 14 CDs recorded with leading recording companies such as BMG, Naxos, Classichord, Musikstrasse, EPR, True Sounds, among others.

In 2005 Mr. Bidini accepted a professorship in the piano department of the Universität der Künste – Berlin. In 2009 he won one of the most important chairs for piano in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

In 2015 the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles created the Carol Colburn Grigor Piano Chair for Mr. Bidini, and he currently serves as faculty at the prestigious conservatory. Additionally he serves as an artist-in-residence at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Köln.

Fabio Bidini is an official Steinway Artist.