Francesco Nicolosi

Francesco Nicolosi (born December 7, 1954) is an Italian pianist.

Biography

Nicolosi was born in Catania, Italy. He has lived in Naples, Italy since 1973 where he studied with the great pianist and teacher Vincenzo Vitale. From 1996 he is president of the Sigismund Thalberg International Study Centre. In the 1998 he has founded the Franz Liszt Piano Duo with the pianist Vittorio Bresciani with the aim of promoting Liszt' Symphonies works in two piano version.

He is Artistic Director of the Sigismund Thalberg International Piano Prize and Artistic Director in many important italian summer festival such as “I concerti d’Estate a Villa Guariglia” in Vietri sul mare, "Jeux d'art a la Villa d'Este" in Tivoli, "Roccaraso in Musica" and of the International Piano Masterclass in Naples and Rome.

Thalberg recordings

In the 1989, he began to record with Naxos Records on its Marco Polo imprint. All Thalberg's Paraprases on Italian Opera were included in his recording as well as the Piano Concerto and the Soireès de Pausilippe. The series comprises 8 full-length CDs.The last Thalberg disc was recorded in October 1995.

Awards

Nicolosi in the 1980 was third prize at the International Santander Piano Competition. The same year he came second at the Concours International d' Exècution Musicale in Geneva.For his recordings on Vincenzo Bellini he has won the prestigious prize Gold Bellini(prize previously assigned to artists as Maria Callas, Riccardo Muti, Luciano Pavarotti etc)Nicolosi is also frequently invited to sit on the juries of music competitions.

Performance and recordings

Nicolosi has played both recitals and as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, in some of the most famous concert halls in the world (Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Victoria Hall of Geneva, Radio Nacional in Madrid, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Teatro alla Scala and Sala Verdi in Milan, Teatro dell’Opera and Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Herkulessaal in Munich, Brahmssaal in Vienna, Kennedy Center in Washington among others) He toured in Iceland, United States, Argentina, Russia, Japan and China and is a regular guest at festivals such as the 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.

The authoritative Corriere della Sera critic and musicologist Paolo Isotta has written of him on the occasion of the recent recording of two rare concerts of Paisiello: "(...) 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-centuryworks, 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 recording work includes over Thalberg Mozart (Complete Piano variations), Rachmaninoff, Clara Schumann, Scarlatti and Paisiello (Complete Piano concertos). Nicolosi's website gives a complete list.

External links

* [http://www.centrothalberg.it The Sigismund Thalberg International Study Centre]
* [http://www.francesconicolosi.it Francesco Nicolosi's Home Page]
* [http://www.francesconicolosi.it/members.htm Complete Recordings List]