With a style characterized by sensitivity, intimacy and poetry, but also by power and brilliance, Locarno-born Swiss 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, New York 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 pianist Francesco Piemontesi has built up a reputation over the years as one of the leading interpreters of the classical and romantic German 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’s most important to him is to illuminate the scores from within: ” For me, making music is like a second language. 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. “.
For the 2024-25 season, Francesco Piemontesi appears at the BBC Proms, on tour with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos KV 365 with Jan Lisiecki conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, with the Filarmonica della Scala also conducted by Noseda, with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai and the Gewandhausorchester under the baton of Manfred Honeck. He is back with the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, the SWR Symphonieorchester, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the NHK, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Pittsburg, San Francisco, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Robin Ticciati, as well as the Helsinki Philharmonik. Recital appearances include the Auditorium de Lyon, Rudolfinum/Dvořák Hall, Tonhalle Zürich and La Chaux-de-Fonds.
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 pianist Cécile Ousset. It is to her that he owes his round sound and somnambulistic technique rooted in the French piano tradition that goes back to Marcel Ciampi.
Francesco Piemontesi’s musical artistry is attested to by 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 album for Pentatone 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 Gstaad Menuhin Festival. He has a long-standing relationship with the Schubertiade Festival and London’s Wigmore Hall. Equally at home on the concert stage or in small chamber ensembles, Francesco Piemontesi performs with a variety of partners, including Renaud Capuçon, 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, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Orchestre de Paris, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Chicago, Boston and London Symphony Orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and the Swedish, Danish and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras. He regularly collaborates with such eminent conductors as Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Lorenzo Viotti, Robin Ticciati, Iván Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Marek Janowski, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Søndergård, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta and Nathalie Stutzmann.
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 Salzburg, Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne, Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, as well as La Roque d’Anthéron, New York’s Mostly Mozart and the Klavierfestival Ruhr.
