Francesco Libetta is an Italian pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

.

Biography

Born in Galatone

Galatone

Galatone is a town and comune located in Salento, in the province of Lecce , ancient seat of the Marquess of Galatone.-History:...

, South Italy

South Italy

South Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. South Italy encompasses six of the country's 20 regions:*Abruzzo...

, Francesco Libetta studied in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 (piano with Vittoria De Donno; contrapoint with Cosimo Colazzo and Igino Ettorre; composition with Gino Marinuzzi

Gino Marinuzzi

Gino Marinuzzi was an Italian conductor and composer, particularly associated with Wagner and the Italian repertory....

; conducting with Alberto Maria Giuri), France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (composition with Jacques Castérède

Jacques Castérède

Jacques Castérède is a French composer.He studied at Lycée Buffon in Paris. He gained his baccalaureat in elementary mathematics, before he entered Paris National Conservatory of Music in 1944 and began studying piano under Armand Ferté, composition under Tony Aubin, analysis under Olivier Messiaen...

) before basing himself in Lecce

Lecce

Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia...

, where he teaches Chamber Music at the “T. Schipa” Conservatory.

Described as “A poet-aristocrat of the keyboard with the profile and the carriage of a Renaissance prince” (M. Gurewitsch, New York Times), he first came to the attention of piano cognoscenti after his live performance of 53 Studies by Godowsky based on the 27 Studies by Chopin (1990 in Galatina

Galatina

Galatina , known before the unification of Italy as San Pietro in Galatina, is a town and comune in the Italian province of Lecce in Apulia.Among the most important cities in Salento, it is situated some 21 km south of the city of Lecce....

; then 1994/95 in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

; Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

; 2006 in Milano. In 2010 he performed the complete set in one day in Brasília) Libetta’s repertoire encompasses now a very wide range, including all of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas (performed first in Italy, 1993/94), several Mozart and Beethoven Concertos, the complete Handel

HANDEL

HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

 and Chopin works, as well as major works by Schubert, Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

, Chopin, Debussy, and Ravel.

He is active as a conductor (in symphonic repertoire, as well as collaborating with the Balletto del Sud in major Tchaikovsky ballets), and as a composer (his works include three piano concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s, symphonic pieces, electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, and ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 and movies scores), and as a writer of historical and aesthetic essays.

In 2005 he had a short role in Franco Battiato

Franco Battiato

Francesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...

's movie "Musikanten", on Beethoven life.

In 2009 his first opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 was premiered. "Ottocento" (about eighthundreds victims of religious war

Religious war

A religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...

 in South Italy in 1480) was performed in Otranto

Otranto

Otranto is a town and comune in the province of Lecce , in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses.It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and Italy with Albania...

 and Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.
John Ardoin

John Ardoin

John Ardoin, , was best known as the music critic of The Dallas Morning News for thirty-two years and especially for his friendship with and encyclopedic knowledge of the work of the famous opera soprano, Maria Callas, about whom he wrote four books...

 declared that of the new generation of pianists, Francesco Libetta is “the most inspired and creative”.

One of his DVDs, with the recording of a recital held at the Festival de La Roque d'Anthéron (France), created by Bruno Monsaingeon

Bruno Monsaingeon

Bruno Monsaingeon is a French filmmaker, writer, and violinist. He has made a number of documentary films about great twentieth-century musicians, including Glenn Gould, Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, Piotr Anderszewski and Yehudi Menuhin. His interviews with Richter and with Nadia Boulanger...

, was awarded the Diapason d'Or

Diapason d'Or

The Diapason d'Or is a recommendation of outstanding classical music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the British Gramophone magazine....

 and the CHOC de Le Monde de la Musique.

Critics have been unanimous in hailing his rare qualities: ". . .elegance and charm, (...), with a hint, a touch of aristocratic frivolity that we did not think we would ever witness again." (F. M. Colombo - Il Corriere della Sera); ". . . a breadth of knowledge that extends far beyond the world of music and the piano repertoire." (A. Mandelli - PianoTime) ". . . such miraculous virtuosity and such a delicate feel for melody that one cannot help wondering whether any other artist of his generation - whether in Italy or elsewhere - can be compared to him." (P. Isotta - Il Corriere della Sera).

He married first in 1991 (Cristiana Salce) and divorced in 1995; married again in 1998 (Jenny M. Loth), divorced in 1999. Since then Libetta lives in Lecce.
He is now Artistic Director of the Miami Piano Festival in Lecce (a summer festival which brings to Lecce musicians, professors and students from all over the world since July 2003) and of the Michelangeli Festival in Rabbi, he published essays on history and aesthetics (music by Renaissance composers; reconstructions of Madrigal

Madrigal (music)

A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....

s; cultural life in the late eighteenth century, etc.).

DVD

Nireo (2011)
Libetta in Palazzo Biscari (regista: Franco Battiato)
Beethoven, Strauss, Battiato, Liszt
Nireo DVD 101

Sony Pictures (2006)
Musikanten (regista: Franco Battiato)
Sony DVD 92220

NAIVE
Les Pianos de la Nuit (2003)
Piano recital in La Roque d’Anthéron (regista: Bruno Monsaingeon)
Strauss, Liszt, Debussy, Cajkovskij, Ligeti, Hummel, Alkan, Saint-Saëns, Chopin-Godowsky, Delibes
DVD DR 2101

Libetta in Lecce, Piano recital (2002)
Beethoven, Delibes, Chaminade, Schubert-Godowsky, Ravel, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Saint-Saëns/Godowsky
VAI DVD 4225

DVD Ideale Audience International - MIRARE (2002)
Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...

, Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

, Leo Delibes

Léo Delibes

Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...

(+ Berezowsky, Lugansky, Kocsis, etc.)

Master of the keyboard - Miami International Piano Festival (2001)
(Godowsky: Igniis Fatuus; Saint-Saens: Etude en forme de valse Op. 52 n. 6;
Schubert/Strauss: Kuppelwieser Walzer)
VAI - VHS 69230

Albums

NIREO 013
Tradizioni musicali a Nardò (2011)
Libetta: Sonata per violino e pianoforte (with Aylen Pritchin, vl), LAD. A. Scarlatti: two Intonazioni. N. Fago: Toccata. [+ Anonimo, Bove, De Cupertinis, Manfroci, San Pier di Negro, Serafico]

NIREO 040
Da Bach a Battiato (2010)
Bach, Battiato, Gesualdo, Lulli, Martini, Pasquini, Rameau, Rossi, Turini, Vento, Zipoli

NIREO 012
Libetta: Musiche per Bene (2010)
With: Maria Luisa Bene, ensemble and electronic.

MARSTON (4 cd)
A Century of Romantic Chopin (2010)
Chopin: Nocturne Op. 27 n. 2 [+ Josef Hofmann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ferruccio Busoni, Moritz Rosenthal, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Ignaz Friedman, Alfred Cortot, Francis Planté, Bela Bartok, Claudio Arrau, Guiomar Novaes, Vladimir de Pachmann, Solomon, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Horowitz, Jorge Bolet, and others.]

NIREO 011
Eriberto Scarlino: Composizioni per pianoforte e da camera (2008)
Scarlino: Fiaba, Improvviso, Aria, Scherzo, Due Studi da concerto, Cantilena, Minuetto, Berceuse, Piccolo Valzer, Serenatina, Improvviso, Canzoncina nostalgica, Notturno

NIREO 010
Francesco D'Avalos: Composizioni per pianoforte (2008)
Vergangliche Bilder Albumblatter und Variationen Albumblatt - Variazione di una variazione - 13 Preludi (1840–1900) - Notturno - Piccola Romanza - Foglio d’Album - Minuetto - Paysages marines - 2 Pezzi caratteristici (Le Marionette suonano e ballano, Veli neri e bianchi ballano nella notte) - Valzer

NIREO 007
Libetta live in Fort Lauderdale (2005)
Mozart, (Variations in F Major, K. 398); Beethoven (Sonata Op. 27, No. 2) ; Chopin (Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 2) Liszt (Canzone and Tarantella from Années de Pélerinage); Schumann (Albumblatt); Cajkovskij-Liszt (Polonaise); Alfano (Se taci); Trabaci (Toccata); Leo-Libetta (Canzone a dispetto); Friedman-Gartner (Wiener Tanze)

NIREO 006
Czerny - Musiche per pianoforte a sei mani (2009)
Czerny: Variazioni su Bellini Op. 295, Rondo Op. 227, Fantasia su Mozart Op. 741, Grand Pot-pourri Op. 84, Overture da Le Nozze di Figaro di Mozart, Sinfonia da Tancredi di Rossini
With: Alessandro Mandurino, Luigi Nicolardi, Renato Rizzello, Scipione Sangiovanni, Vanessa Sotgiu

NIREO 003/5 (3 CDs)
Liszt: 12 Symphonic Poems for Two Pianos (2005)
With : Matteo Cistemino, Lara Escelsior, Giuliano Graniti, Luigi Nicolardi, Valentina Parentera, Renato Rizzello, Scipione Sangiovanni, Vanessa Sotgiu

NIREO (2005)
001/2(2 CDs)
Pozzoli: Studi di media difficoltà (Studies of moderate difficulty), Studi a moto rapido (Studies in fast motion), and Studi sulle note ribattute (Studies on repeated notes) Riflessi del mare (Reflections on the Sea)

VAI (2004)
VAIA 1241
Czerny: Studies Op. 740

VAI (2004)
VAIA 1242
Mussorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition, Hopak), Balakirev (Sonata)

VAI (2003)
Libetta Plays Beethoven
AUDIO VAIA 1208
Beethoven: Variazioni Diabelli, Variazioni Op. 34

Tactus - TC:841905 (2007)
Sgambati: Sinfonia n. 1, op. 16; Maestoso (Marcia Funebre); Die Ideale (Liszt)

Accademia Classics - AC 502.2 (2CD)
Franz Liszt: The Complete piano Transcription

VAI (2003)
Piano duos
AUDIO VAIA 1212
Mozart, Libetta, Rimsky-Korsakov/Libetta (con Pietro De Maria); Liszt (con Kemal Gekic); Rachmaninov (con Ilya Itin)

VAI (2002)
AUDIO VAIA 1206
Masters of the Keyboard Vol. 2
(+ A. Neiman, N. Angelich, D. Burstein, I. Itin, P. De Maria)
Debussy (Le Colline d’Anacapri), Strauss-Risler (Till Eulenspiegel), Brahms- Cortot (Wiegenlied)

VAI (2001) - VAIA 1196
Respighi (Due Danze Italiane), Gesualdo (Canzone Francese), Godowsky (Due Studi su Chopin), Ravel (La Valse), Debussy (Estampes), Wagner/Liszt (O du mein holder Abendstern), Gounod/Liszt (Valzer da "Faust"), Saint-Saens (Etude en forme de Valse), etc.

MPF (2000) - (2 CD)
Alkan (Grande Sonate Op. 33, I mov.), etc. (+ others)

Danacord (2000) - DANACOCD 559
Godard (Mazurka n. 4 Op. 103) (+ others)

Chandos (2000) - CHAN 9820
Eisler (Die Mutter) - with E. Arciuli, D. Fasolis, RTSI Choir.

Agorà (1999) - AG 175.2 (2CD)
Liszt (Integrale delle trascrizioni da opere di Wagner)

Agorà (1999) - AG 168.1
Platti (Sonate XIII-XVIII)

Agorà 1999
Canzoni di Cesare Andrea Bixio
Con Ernesto Palacio

AIG (1998) - AIG 1097
Chopin: Due Notturni Op.27, Scherzo Op. 31, Studi Op. 10 nn. 3,5,10,12 Studi Op. 25 nn. 2,8,9,12, Valzer Op. 34 n. 2, Impromptu Op. 66, Polacca Op. 53

Eventyr (1998)
Libetta (Le candide), Monpou (Cancion VI), Wagner (Brautlied aus Lohengrin)

Agorà (1997) - AG 115.1
Liszt: Trascrizioni da opere italiane e francesi
Rigoletto, La muta di Portici, Guglielmo Tell, Roberto il diavolo, Sonnambula, Faust

Eventyr (1995) - LC 01
Schubert (Momento musicale, Kuperwieser Waltzer), Mendelssohn (Romanze senza parole Op. 62 n. 6, Op. 67 n. 4), Beethoven (Sonata Op. 78), Mozart (Adagio KV 617a), Hummel (Rondo favori Op. 11), Raff (Le Fileuse), etc.

Promusica Norway (1992) - PCC 9031
Ligeti (Etudes, Prèmier Livre I-V)

Promusica Norway (1992) - PCC 9030
Sinding (Serenate Op. 33 n. 4) Cleve (Etude Op. 17 n. 2)

Stage

Ottocento - il martirio di Otranto [2009], opera (words by Fredy Franzutti)

Duo (ballet) [2001]

Four Souls (ballet) [2002]

Musiche per Bene (stage music) [2005]

Eolitabularia musica (ballet) [2006]

Movie music

Sognavo le nuvole colorate, film-documentario di Mario Balsamo - (Oistros) Roma, 2009.

Orchestral

Iopa chante sur Degobar [1996 c.]

Iopa regarde la Nativité [1997 c.]

1st concerto for piano and Orchestra [2001 c.]

2nd concerto for piano and Orchestra [2002/3]

3rd concerto for piano and Orchestra "Concertulum" [2006/7]

La Valle delle Anime for piano and Orchestra [1999/2008]

Piano solo

La chasse [1986]

Marcia dei seguaci di M. Hanon [1989]

Trasporto eolico di particellati [1993]

Touches [1994]

Strudellied [1995]

Lenta atonalità diatonica [2011]

Chamber music

Tre arie da Iopa (voice and piano) [1995 c.]

Pabassinas (4 hand piano) [1995 c.]

Varjazsong (flute, sax, piano; or: clarinet, cello, piano) [2000 c.]

Musiche per Bene [1984/2005]

Tema di Nuvole Colorate (piano and guitar) [2008]

Sonata in sol (violin and piano) [2010]

Transcriptions

- piano solo

Alfano: Se Taci

Battiato: 5 pezzi (La Cura, E ti vengo a cercare, Coro da Genesi, I Treni di Touzer, Cerco un centro di gravità permanente)

Cajkovskij: Pas de deux (Blue Bird) from Belle au Bois dormant

Gesualdo: 3 Madrigali (Moro ahi lasso, Ardita zanzaretta, Già piansi nel dolore), Gagliarda

Händel: Passacaglia

Leo: Canzone a dispetto from Amor vuol Sofferenza

Paisiello: Inno

Pizzetti: Preludio from Fedra

Trabaci: Gagliarda

Wagner: Aria from Tannhauser

- other:

Brancaccio: tre romanze (flute and guitar)

Godowsky III: Il giardino delle delizie terrene (piano and orchestra)

Kunhau: Hishia agonizzante e risanato (piano 4 hands)

Joplin: tre Ragtimes (piano and orchestra)

Respighi: Antiche arie e danze (flute, harp, piano)

Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (two pianos)

Serafico: Due Madrigali (chamber ensemble and actor)

Wagner: Overture del Tannhauser (16 pianos 4 hands)

Waldteufel: Valzer del Diavolo nel Bosco (8 hands)

Electronic (Acusmatic)

Studio-Studien-Étude [2000 c.]

Cinque Studi on Godowsky on Chopin for piano and electronic [2010]

External links

• libetta.it
• nireo.it