Hrvatski

Unbelievable energy of Italian pianist Michele Campanella in Rector's palace

Date created: 06.08.2016.

Michele Campanella, Italian piano virtuoso performed on 5 August in the atrium of the Rector's Palace. Compositions by Robert Schumann, Prokofiev and Modest Mussorgsky have been included in the recital programme and presented to the festival audience. Although Michele Campanella is in his seventies, he evoked the incredible energy of young men.

Programme started with compositions by Robert Schumann who was among the first composers who began to write music that tells a story. His Papillons and Novelette No. 8 were performed as well as the Tales of an Old Grandmother by Sergei Prokofiev. Second part of the concert was dedicated to Mussorgsky and his Pictures at an Exhibition, composition that had a special sentimental value for the composer. Pictures were created after visiting the posthumous exhibition of the painter and composer's friend Victor Hartmann. Campanella walked the audience through the exhibition presenting the connection between the narration and music which has literature roots. Narrative, well thoughtful programme thrilled the audience.

During his more than 45 years long career, Michelle Campanella performed almost all of the greatest compositions from piano repertory of Franz Liszt. In 1986 Hungarian Government honored him with a medal for the greatest credits for Listz's music performanace. American Liszt Society also honored him in 2002. After his studies on The Vicenzo Vitale piano school in Naples, Campanella performed with most prominent European as well as the American orchestras such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and collaborated with many conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Eliahu Inbal, Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Pinchas Steinberg etc. He won Grand Prix du Disque, prize awarded by the respectable Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, three times. He is also dedicated to pedagogical work. From 1986 till 2010 he was a head of the piano section in respectable Accademia Chigiana in Sienna and taught advanced piano courses in Ravell. Recently, he was declared artistic director of the Naples festival Maggio della Musica, and since 2008 he is the President of the reputable Società Liszt, the Italian branch of the American Society of Franz Liszt.