Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi, a native of Locarno, has over the years gained a reputation as one of the leading interpreters of the German classical and romantic repertoire. He appears as a regular guest with many of the world’s leading orchestras, in concert halls and music festivals around the globe, while still being firmly anchored on the shores of Lago Maggiore as Artistic Director of the music festival Settimane Musicali di Ascona.
With his subtle but mesmerising interpretations of Schubert’s piano sonatas as well as the solo works and piano concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt, he has been acclaimed internationally by critics and audiences alike. His playing is characterized by sensitivity, intimacy and poetry, but also by power and brilliance. Above all, it is important to him to illuminate the scores from within: “Making music is like a second language for me. It feels like an existential necessity. I don’t want to entertain the audience, I want to let them participate in the deep dimensions of music.”
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include appearances at the BBC Proms, an extensive tour with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, performing Mozart’s concerto for two pianos KV 365 with Jan Lisiecki under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda. The tour features a special appearance by the orchestra in Locarno, where Piemontesi continues to hold the position Artistic Director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona. Further ahead, Piemontesi appears with the Filarmonica della Scala, also conducted by Noseda, L’Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Gewandhausorchester under Manfred Honeck, and returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and SWR Symphonieorchester. Further engagements include returns to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, NHK, Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra with Robin Ticciati, as well as the Helsinki Philharmonic. In recital, Piemontesi appears at Auditorium Lyon, Rudolfinum/Dvořák Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, and La Chaux-de-Fonds, to mention just a few.
In addition to the classical and romantic periods, Francesco Piemontesi’s wider repertoire includes works by Bach and Handel in original versions and transcriptions, piano concertos by Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, Rachmaninov and Schönberg, as well as works by Olivier Messiaen and Unsuk Chin. Among his many important musical influences, he highlights his distinguished teachers Arie Vardi and Alfred Brendel, but above all French concert pianist Cecile Ousset. It is to her that he owes his rounded tone and a somnambulistic technique that is rooted in the French piano tradition going back to Marcel Ciampi.
Francesco Piemontesi’s musical artistry is documented on numerous recordings that have received awards and critical acclaim, such as Schubert’s last Piano Sonatas, Debussy’s Preludes and Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze. His latest release on Pentatone is dedicated to two of the most demanding pieces of piano literature: Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes and the B minor Sonata.
Working with fellow musicians and orchestras alike, Francesco Piemontesi’s collaborations form themselves from the nucleus of friendship, appreciation and creativity. He recently has been Artist in Residence with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Dresden Philharmonic and Gstaad Menuhin Festival. A long-standing relationship links him to the Schubertiade Festival and London’s Wigmore Hall. As adept on the concert stage as he is in smaller chamber combinations, Francesco Piemontesi appears with a variety of partners including Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Augustin Hadelich and Jörg Widmann.
As a soloist, he has played alongside leading orchestras such as Berlin, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Munich, the Chicago, Boston and London Symphony orchestras, as well as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Swedish, Danish National and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras. He regularly collaborates with distinguished conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Lorenzo Viotti, Robin Ticciati, Iván Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Marek Janowski, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Søndergård, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta and Nathalie Stutzmann.
Francesco Piemontesi travels the world and has appeared in many prestigious venues including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall New York and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. As a welcomed guest he was featured in the festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne, Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein as well as in La Roque d’Anthéron, New York Mostly Mozart and Klavierfestival Ruhr.
See Francesco Piemontesi perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with the RSNO on 4 & 5 October 2025.
