Francesco Nicolosi (Italy)
2013 Juror
Francesco Nicolosi is one of the most distinguished pianists of the Italian tradition. He was, himself, a pupil of Vincenzo Vitale, and in 1980 he was third prize winner at the International Santander Piano Competition. In the same year, he captured the silver at the Concours International d’ Exècution Musicale in Geneva and continued on as one of the world’s foremost pianists of his generation.
He has played both recitals as well as soloist with prestigious orchestras in some of the most famous concert halls in the world, including Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall of Genève, Radio Nacional in Madrid, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Teatro alla Scala and Sala Verdi in Milano, Teatro dell’Opera and Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Roma, Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli, Herkulessaal in München, Brahmssaal in Wien, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., among many others.
His tours have have taken him to the stages of Iceland, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Japan, Singapore and China and he is a regular guest at such festivals as Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Rossini Opera Festival, Ravenna Festival, Festival di Ravello, Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, Taormina Teatro Musica, Settimane Musicali in Stresa, Estate Musicale Sorrentina, Settembre Musica in Torino, Marathon Internacional in Sevilla, Festival de Musique in Menton, Rencontres Musicales en Artois, Weimar Kunstfest, Budapest Liszt Festival and many others.
He has recorded for three well-established record labels including Nuova Era, Naxos, and Marco Polo. His recordings have always received enthusiastic reviews by top European, Asian and American musical magazines, and are frequently broadcast on radio worldwide.
The authoritative critic and musicologist, Paolo Isotta, in his review of a recording of two rare concerti of Paisiello, he wrote, “(…) listening to him playing is enough to remind us that no one today can match his luminosity of sound, his ability to draw out the song-like legato qualities of a keyboard instrument (…) he has acquired a reputation as one of our greatest living pianists (…) The great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli performed eighteenth-century works, his inspiration came principally from the same source as Nicolosi’s, but perhaps lacked some of the latter’s lucidity and coherence. Nicolosi is now perfecting the process begun by Michelangeli.”
His recordings of Thalberg and Liszt-Bellini paraphrases received the 1994 Bellini Golden Prize, and as president of the Sigismund Thalberg International Study Centre, he has developed an intense research and revaluation of the music of this legendary Austrian pianist over many years. Mr. Nicolosi is, thanks also to the numerous recordings, the only recognized interpreter of Thalberg’s music in the world.
In 1998, he founded the Franz Liszt Piano Duo with the pianist, Vittorio Bresciani, with the aim of promoting Liszt’s symphonic works in a two piano version. On October 2002, he was invited to Copenhagen by the Queen of Denmark and the Prince Consort to perform in the Real Chapel of the Castle of Fredensborg.
He is, moreover, artistic director of the Sigismund Thalberg International Piano Prize, artistic director of the “I concerti d’Estate di Villa Guariglia” in Vietri sul mare, artistic director of the festival, “Jeux d’art a la Villa d’Este” in Tivoli, as well as artistic director of the Festival “Roccaraso in Musica” and Corsi Internazionali di Alto Perfezionamento e Formazione Musicale in Naples and Rome.