Antonio Pompa-Baldi, piano
Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Ticket: $60
International concert pianist and Van Cliburn Competition laureate Antonio Pompa-Baldi kicks off our 2022-2023 season with a program exploring “the Infernal and the Divine.” Along with works by Bach, Ferguson, and Liszt, Antonio celebrates his Italian heritage with a commissioned work composed by compatriot Roberto Piana based on Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Pompa-Baldi knew how to suspend time, letting a phrase hover and expand in poised inner stillness…. (He) relied on warmth, exquisite taste…arresting technique.
The Los Angeles Times
Pompa-Baldi possesses a magical touch, rich in a thousand nuances, a spectacular technique and an amazing finesse.
La Provincia
Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, after winning the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999, embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, Mr. Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi performs at major concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris’ Salle Pleyel. With a concerto repertoire including more than 60 works, he recently performed cycles of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Brahms Concertos. While on tour, he performed in Austria, Spain, France, New York, and throughout China.
He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with ensembles and colleagues including Takacs String Quartet, Alison Balsom, Sharon Robinson, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and New York Philharmonic.
In 2019, he was a returning guest at the third edition of the Lang Lang International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China, continued his honorary guest professorship at the Beijing China Conservatory, and was named honorary professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music.
As a recording artist, Mr. Pompa-Baldi has performed on more than 30 CDs on the Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, Brilliants, and Centaur labels, comprising the complete piano and chamber music works of Grieg, the Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas, and the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas. His recordings also feature works by Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Respighi, Roberto Piana, and Rachmaninoff. His latest releases feature Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Hummel.
As a Steinway Artist, Pompa-Baldi has recorded a compilation of songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf arranged for solo piano to commemorate the 50th year of the passing of both French musical icons, as well as “Napoli,” a CD featuring new piano versions of famous Neapolitan songs.
Not only has Mr. Pompa-Baldi participated in and won numerous piano competitions throughout his career, he also dedicates his time as an adjudicator at international competitions such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, BNDES Rio de Janeiro, and Edward Grieg Piano Competitions.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Piano at Cleveland Institute of Music.
