Roberto Russo, Piano

Biography

Roberto Russo begins his piano studies with his father, a pupil of Ester D’Atena Scopelliti, who is an exponent of Alfonso Rendano’s Piano School. After graduating with Giuseppe Maiorca, he continues his pianistic training with Daniel Rivera and Franco Scala in Italy, and with Maria Tipo in Switzerland where, at the Geneva Music Conservatory he obtains the "Diplôme de perfectionnement". He also attends piano courses with Jörg Demus, Alexander Lonquich, Gherard Oppitz and Fausto Zadra, as well as Peter Schreier for German Lied. In 1985 he begins his career, which leads him to perform in the major cities of 13 countries (Argentina, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, England, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Spain, USA and Switzerland). His performances are reviewed by Italian and international press, and recorded by RAI (Italy), Radio Vaticana, Radio Toscana Classica (Italy), Houston Public Radio (USA) and Radio Televisión Argentina. The musicologist Brenno Boccadoro (Switzerland) says that his piano playing is “…true, sincere, great and deeply poetic”; while the Italian pianist and critic Riccardo Risaliti brings out his "genuine sensitivity and knowledge of the instrument", also speaking of him as a “skilled composer”.
As a composer, in fact, he is a pupil of Italo Vescovo, Silvano Sardi and Domenico Bartolucci (composer and ex-conductor of Sistina Chapel Choir in Rome), and writes pieces already presented at prestigious international venues, or played by important ensembles: the “Pater Noster” is presented in 2006 in Lyon, France, by the “Royal Chapel Choir” of Copenhagen; the “Sonata per viola e pianoforte” is performed in 1995 at the Council Palace of Buenos Aires); the “12 Preludi per pianoforte” are presented at the Høgskolen i Tromsø, Norway, at the Akademia Muzyczna w Krakow, Poland and at the 2012 HKPCA Hong Kong Piano Competition, where they become the subject of the "Roberto Russo Prize".
Two times winner of International Music Competition “Ibla Grand Prize” (in 1996 as a pianist and in 1997 as a composer), Roberto is also artistic director, from 2000 to 2005, of the International Competition for pianists and composers “Premio Franz Liszt” in Grottammare, Italy, and honorary chairman of the jury at the 2012 edition of HKPCA the Hong Kong Piano Competition.
He collaborates with the English composer Michael Stimpson, with the Canadian cellist Bridget MacRae and with the Italian tenor Alessandro Maffucci, with whom he participates to a recording of a CD devoted to compositions for voice and piano by Franz Liszt, recorded and published by “Istituto Liszt”of Bologna (Italy) and by the Italian music reviews «Il Giornale della Musica» and «Classic Voice». For the Italian Label III Millennio, Roberto also records a CD entirely devoted to the prelude form in the XXth century.
After teaching at several Italian Conservatories of Music, he is formal piano teacher at Cosenza Music Conservatory, also holding courses and master class at Music Conservatoires and Universities in Norway, Spain, Romania and Poland, summer piano courses in collaboration with Argentine pianist Edith Murano and, in August 2013, during the 14th Summer Music Academy of Krakow, Poland.
In july 2012 he has been appointed “Steinway Artist".