Giuseppe Albanese

Biography

“This young Italian pianist is not only a formidable technician but also an original musical thinker whose performances seek to illuminate, after unconventional ways, the true nature of the repertoire he plays” - Jeffrey Tate (2004)
“In my opinion Giuseppe Albanese is one of the best young Italian pianists who have emerged in recent years. He performed the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto in D minor with me on two occasions, and I was very impressed with his musicianship, pianism and expressive talent. It stands out in my memory." - James Conlon (2004)
Giuseppe Albanese is one of the most sought pianists of his generation. In 2014 he made his Deutsche Grammophon label debut with "Fantasia", a concept album featuring Beethoven's Sonata quasi una Fantasia Op. 27 No. 2, Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy Op. 15 and Schumann's Fantasy Op. 17. One year later, in November 2015, he released his second DG Album: "Après une lecture de Liszt", dedicated to the Hungarian composer entirely. In March 2016 Decca Classics released a box with complete Bartók's works which features Albanese's recording of the "Variations" (world premiere recording).
He played solo recitals and concerts in leading international concert halls including Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rockefeller University and Steinway Hall in New York; Buenos Aires - Amijai Auditoriuml; Cenart in Mexico City; Berlin’s Konzerthaus; Hamburg’s Laeisz Halle; Essen’s Philharmonie; Salzburg’s Mozarteum; St. Martin in the Fields and Steinway Hall in London; Salle Cortot in Paris; St. Petersburg's Philarmonie; Warsaw’s Filharmonia Narodowa; Ljubljana’s Slovenian Philharmonic, Lisbon’s Gulbenkian and also in Brasil, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Aegypt, Morocco, Israel etc.
Albanese frequently collaborates with internationally renowned conductors such as Christian Arming, John Axelrod, James Conlon, Lawrence Foster, Will Humburg, Dmitri Jurowski, Julian Kovatchev, Alain Lombard, Nicola Luisotti, Othmar Maga, Fabio Mastrangelo, Henrik Nanasi, Anton Nanut, Tomas Netopil, Daniel Oren, George Pehlivanian, Donato Renzetti, Alexander Sladkowsky, Hubert Soudant, Pinchas Steinberg, Michel Tabachnik, Jeffrey Tate, Jurai Valcuha and Jonathan Webb.
Regularly invited to participate in international festivals, Albanese has performed for Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival, Yuri Temirkanov’s ‘Arts Square’ Winter Festival in St Petersburg, the Contemporary Music Festival at the Biennale of Venice, the Gustav Khun's Tiroler Festspiele of Kufstein and Erl; the French Festival of Colmar (with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana); the International Piano Festival "En Blanco & Negro" of Mexico City, the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, the MiTo Festival in Milan and Turin, the Mittlefest, the Sintra Music Festival in Portugal and the Tongyeong Festival in Korea.
In his native country, Italy, he gives recitals and concerts in the most important concert hall season with such orchestras as the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI as well as in the most important theatres such as Petruzzelli - Bari; Comunale - Bologna; Teatro Lirico - Cagliari; Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino - Florence; Carlo Felice - Genoa; San Carlo - Naples; Massimo - Palermo; Teatro dell'Opera - Rome; Verdi - Triest; La Fenice - Venice; Arena - Verona.
His concerts are often broadcasted by the National Radio and Television Rai Radio3 and the classical TV Channel "Classica HD" broadcasted his Debussy-recital held in Teatro Bibiena in Mantua.
Before his two DG recordings, Albanese has recorded several albums since 1998, ranging from the Fantasies by Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Skrjabin to the first performance of Simoni’s Europe Piano Concerto with the Târgu-Mures Philarmonic. His discography also features his CD "1900 - Yearbooks of 20th Century Piano" (Frame records), dedicated to the year 1900 and containing music by Skrjabin, Szymanowski, MacDowell and Bartók, "En plein air", containing works by Mendelssohn, Weber, Tausig, Debussy and Bartók, and "Pour le Piano", featuring works by Debussy, which was recorded for the Italian Magazine Amadeus on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
First prize winner at Premio Venezia, the most important national piano competition in Italy, Albanese also won the first prize at London 2003 Vendome Prize International Piano Competition, headed by Sir Jeffrey Tate and defined by Le Figaro as "the piano world's most prestigious award". He was also awarded the special prize for the ‘best execution of contemporary music’ at the 54th Busoni International Piano Competition in Bozen.
Giuseppe Albanese was born in Reggio Calabria (Italy) in 1979. He began piano lessons when he was five and he received his diploma with the highest honours at the Conservatory Rossini in Pesaro three years later, when 17. His studies continued at Imola International Piano Academy and at Messina University, where he pursued a Laurea degree "magna cum laude" in Philosophy. Subject of his thesis is on the aesthetics of Liszt in the Années de pèlerinage. There he was Professor of Methodology of Musical Communication for three years, starting at the age of just 25. Currently, he is Piano Professor at the Conservatorio “Tartini” in Trieste.