Roberto Russo

www.robertorussoweb.it

He begins his piano studies with his father, a pupil of Ester D’Atena Scopelliti (who was a student of the well-known Italian pianist and composer Alfonso Rendano), and graduates full marks with a special mention. Later, he studies in Italy with Daniel Rivera and Franco Scala, and with Maria Tipo at the Geneva Music Conservatory (Switzerland) where, in 1992, 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 leading him to perform in the major cities of 12 countries (New York, Washington, Houston, Miami, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, London, Salisbury, Reading, Krakow, Geneva, Lausanne, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Bilbao, Oviedo, Guernica, Rome, Pesaro, Florence, Turin, Parma, Bologna). His performances are reviewed by Italian («Amadeus», «Suono», «Il Resto del Carlino», «Gazzetta di Parma», «Strumenti e Musica», «Corriere Adriatico», «Alto Adige», «Il Tirreno», «La Nazione») and international press («Süddeutschekurier» - Germany, «Arts Alive» - USA, «El Correo Español», «El Diario Vasco» - Spain, «Marco Polo» - Canada), and recorded by RAI, Radio Vaticana, Radio Toscana Classica (Italy), Houston Public Radio (USA) and Radio Televisión Argentina. In 2002 he records his first CD entirely devoted to the prelude form in the XX century. He also follows composition studies with Italian composers Italo Vescovo, Silvano Sardi and Domenico Bartolucci (ex-conductor of Sistina Chapel Choir in Rome); some of his pieces are presented at prestigious venues or played by important ensembles: the “Pater Noster” for choir (performed in Lyon, France, in 2006 by the “Royal Chapel Choir of Copenhagen”); the “Sonata for viola and piano” (presented in 1995 at the “Council Palace of Buenos Aires”); the “12 Preludes for piano” (presented at the “Høgskolen i Tromsø”, Norway, and the “Akademia Muzyczna” of Krakow, Poland). Two-time winner of the “Ibla Grand Prize International Music Competition” (in 1996 as a pianist and in 1997 as a composer), Roberto Russo holds courses and seminars at the Music Conservatories in Norway (Tromsø), Spain (Oviedo), Romania (Bucharest) and Poland (Krakow), taking also part in juries of national and international competitions. Besides, he is Artistic Director of “Premio Liszt International Competition for Pianists and Composers” (Grottammare, Italy) between 2000 and 2005, collaborates with English composer Michael Stimpson, with Canadian cellist Bridget MacRae and with Italian tenor Alessandro Maffucci. Together with him in 2005 Roberto records a CD devoted to Franz Liszt music for voice and piano, published by “Istituto Liszt” in Bologna (Italy) and by Italian music reviews «Il Giornale della Musica» and «Classic Voice». After teaching at the Italian music conservatories of Bologna, Parma, Piacenza, Ferrara, Salerno, Cagliari and Matera, he currently teaches piano at the Conservatory of Music of Cosenza (Italy), holding summer piano courses in collaboration with Argentinian pianist Edith Murano.