Francesco Piemontesi - Biography

Francesco Piemontesi was supported by BBT between 2009 and 2011, when this page was last updated. For an up to date biography go to www.harrisonparrott.com

Born in 1983 in Switzerland, Francesco Piemontesi first came to international prominence as a prize winner in the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and through his close collaboration with Alfred Brendel, Cécile Ousset and Alexis Weissenberg. He has performed at many prestigious concert halls, including the Vienna Musikverein, Zürich Tonhalle and New York Carnegie Hall as well as at festivals such as the Martha Argerich Project, BBC Proms, Roque d’Anthéron, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, City of London Festival and Schleswig Holstein. He received a Fellowship from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and is a BBC New Generation Artist. Francesco Piemontesi has quickly earned a superb reputation particularly for his interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin and Ravel. He has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Camerata Salzburg and the Vienna, Zürich and Scottish Chamber Orchestras. He has collaborated with such conductors as Jiří Bělohlávek, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Manze, Vasily Petrenko, Mikhail Pletnev, Thierry Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Dimitry Kitajenko, Kazuki Yamada and Bruno Weil. Highlights of the 11/12 season include Piemontesi’s debuts with the London Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as well a return to the Northern Sinfonia and a tour with Zubin Mehta and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He will give recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucerne Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron, Munich, Frankfurt, Prague, Madrid, Milan and Florence. Piemontesi nurtures a particular artistic interest in chamber music. He has played with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Emmanuel Pahud, Heinrich Schiff, Jörg Widmann, Antoine Tamestit, Veronika Eberle, Daniel Mueller-Schott and the Ebène Quartet. Piemontesi released a highly acclaimed Schumann recording for Claves Records and most recently a recital CD for avanticlassic with works by Handel, Brahms, Bach and Liszt.

Last updated: September 2011

First of all I would like to say how happy I am to be part of the BBT-Family. I say family because I really feel I am part of a background, where people invest much energy to support young people artistically and as human beings. Very important to me is the fact that there is no feeling of competition, only professional advice about how to use the fund and helpful discussions on how to plan my future as a musician and as a person. This is real idealism and I believe that the Trust represents one of those few examples of non-profit mentality, which nowadays seem to be so rare. Finally I would like to thank the BBT for creating the opportunity to meet great personalities like Mitsuko Uchida: I shall never forget the time we spent together working on Mozart Sonatas.

Photographs by Marco Borggreve