With a style characterized by sensitivity, intimacy and poetry, but also by power and brilliance, Locarno-born Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi has earned a reputation over the years as one of the leading interpreters of the German classical and romantic repertoire. In addition to numerous tours around the world, he is artistic director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona music festival on Lake Maggiore.
Francesco Piemontesi’s musical art is documented in numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed recordings. His latest Pentatone album is devoted to two of the most demanding pieces in piano literature: Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes and Sonata in B minor.
After completing concert cycles with the complete piano works of Schubert and Mozart, he will perform Beethoven’s piano sonatas from 2025. His chamber music partners include Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen and Renaud Capuçon. The Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Wiener Symphoniker are just some of the many orchestras with which Francesco Piemontesi has performed as soloist, under conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Roger Norrington, Paavo Järvi and Zubin Mehta.
“The music gives rise to a subtle play of sensations on her face – a faithful reflection of her musicality. (Neue Zurcher Zeitung)
Locarno-born Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi has built up a reputation over the years as one of the leading interpreters of the German classical and romantic repertoire. He performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, in concert halls and music festivals around the globe, while remaining firmly rooted on the shores of Lake Maggiore as artistic director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona music festival.
His subtle yet spellbinding interpretations of Franz Schubert’s piano sonatas, as well as solo works and piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt, have been hailed by international critics and audiences alike. Her playing is characterized by sensitivity, intimacy and poetry, but also by power and brilliance. What matters most to him is illuminating scores from within: “Making music is like a second language to me. It’s an existential necessity. I don’t want to entertain the audience, I want to involve them in the deeper dimensions of the music.
In addition to the Classical and Romantic periods, Francesco Piemontesi’s repertoire includes works by Bach and Handel in original versions and transcriptions, piano concertos by Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, Rachmaninov and Schönberg, as well as works by Olivier Messiaen and Unsuk Chin. Among his many important musical influences, he cites his eminent teachers Arie Vardi and Alfred Brendel, but above all the French concert artist Cécile Ousset. It is to her that he owes his round tone and somnambulistic technique rooted in the French piano tradition, which goes back to Marcel Ciampi.
Francesco Piemontesi’s musical artistry is documented in numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed recordings, including Schubert’s late piano sonatas, Debussy’s preludes and Mozart’s piano concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze. His latest Pentatone album is devoted to two of the most demanding pieces in piano literature: Franz Liszt’s Études transcendantales and Sonate en si mineur.
Working with musicians and orchestras, Francesco Piemontesi’s collaborations are formed from a core of friendship, appreciation and creativity. He has recently been artist-in-residence with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad. He has a long-standing relationship with the Schubertiade festival and London’s Wigmore Hall: having already completed concert cycles featuring the complete piano works of Schubert and Mozart, he will perform Beethoven’s piano sonatas there from 2025. Equally at home on the concert stage or in small chamber ensembles, Francesco Piemontesi performs with a variety of partners, including Renaud Capuçon, Tabea Zimmermann, Leonidas Kavakos, Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Augustin Hadelich and Jörg Widmann.
As a soloist, he has performed with leading orchestras such as the Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Munich, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Wiener Symphoniker, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, London and NHK, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly collaborates with eminent conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Daniele Rustioni, Lorenzo Viotti, Robin Ticciati, Iván Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Marek Janowski, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Søndergård, Daniel Harding, Roger Norrington, Karina Canellakis, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta, Nathalie Stutzmann, Elim Chan and Maxim Emelyanychev.
Francesco Piemontesi travels the world and has performed in many prestigious venues, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Guest appearances include the renowned Salzburg, Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne, Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, as well as La Roque d’Anthéron, New York’s Mostly Mozart, the Klavierfestival Ruhr and the BBC Proms.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season include appearances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich and the New York Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt, the Swedish and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras under Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Hannu Lintu, the Wiener Symphoniker under Joana Mallwitz, as well as tours with the Dresden Philharmonic under Pablo Gonzales and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Jérémie Rhorer. Francesco Piemontesi will return to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Schubertiade, and will give recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Naples’ Teatro di San Carlo.
