“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)
One of the most sought-after Italian pianists of his generation, Giuseppe Albanese has performed throughout Italy and abroad, with praise for his performances as “ravishingly beautiful” and “truly superlative”. 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 Bolzano.
In 2014 Albanese has made his debut on Deutsche Grammophon label 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.
In his native country, Italy, Albanese is a regular guest in the most important concert hall seasons, such as Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro dell’Opera and Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and the Arena in Verona. He is one of the few pianists invited to be present in major theatre seasons throughout the country, from Trieste, Milan, and Genoa, to Bologna, Florence, Bari and Palermo, with such orchestras as the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo, the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Verdi, I Pomeriggi Musicali.
He frequently collaborates with internationally renowned conductors such as Christian Arming, Enrique Batiz, Aldo Ceccato, James Conlon, Daniele Gatti, Dmitri Jurowski, Julian Kovatchev, Alain Lombard, Nicola Luisotti, Anton Nanut, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Henrik Nanasi, George Pehlivanian, Donato Renzetti, Pinchas Steinberg, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Alberto Veronesi, and Jonathan Webb. In increasing demand abroad, Albanese has also performed with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Philharmonie Essen, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the Warsaw (Narodowa), Slovenian and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras and Portugal’s Gulbenkian Orchestra.
He has played solo recitals and concerts in leading concert halls throughout Europe and America, at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Salle Cortot, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Teatro Real; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rockefeller University and Steinway Hall, Auditorium Amijai di Buenos Aires and Cenart in Mexico City. 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 Tiroler Festspiele of Kufstein and Erl directed by Gustav Khun; the French Festival of Colmar; the International Piano Festival “En Blanco & Negro” of Mexico City, and the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo.
In 2012/2013 Giuseppe Albanese’s engagements included his critically and publicly acclaimed debut with the San Francisco Opera Symphony (conducted by Nicola Luisotti), the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, the Orchestra Sinfonica della Fondazione Arena, and a tour with the Orchestra Haydn. Upcoming engagements in 2013/2014 include concerts with the Orchestra della Toscana (Jonas Alber), the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo (Sir Jeffrey Tate), the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Nicola Luisotti and Alexandr Sladkowsky), the Orchestra Sinfonica della Fondazione Arena and ‘La Verdi’ in Milan (Gaetano d’Espinoza), with works by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Schumann and Rachmaninov, along with several solo recitals around Italy.
Before his debut on Deutsche Grammophon, 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 CD “1900 – Yearbooks of 20th Century Piano, dedicated to the year 1900 and containing music by Skrjabin, Szymanowski, MacDowell and the world’s first recording of Bartók’s Variations – was proclaimed ‘CD of the month’ from Suonare News (a leading Italian classical music publication) and awarded 5 stars in both artistic and technical appraisal from the magazine Amadeus (December 2001). Albanese’s most recent recordings are 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.
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.
He is now Piano Professor at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro.
