Wednesday, 22 August
Odeion
19:30

Born and raised in Foggia (Italy), Antonio Pompa-Baldi first went to the U.S.A. in 1999 to participate in the Cleveland International Piano Competition. He won the first prize, and, while fulfilling all the engagements that came with it, he and his wife, Italian pianist Emanuela Friscioni, decided to make Cleveland their home. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, Antonio also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as well as the Award for the Best Performance of a New Work.

Antonio has toured extensively in four continents, bringing his assured touch on the keyboard to some of the world's major concert venues including Cleveland's Severance Hall, Milan's Sala Verdi, Naples' Teatro Diana, New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall and Paris' Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Salle Pleyel, Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Théâtre du Châtelet. After a triumphant debut in Beijing (China), he was named Honorary Guest Professor of that Institution. Pompa-Baldi also made orchestral and solo appearances at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Houston Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker in Tokyo (Japan), Colorado Symphony, North Carolina, Peoria, and Duluth Symphony Orchestras, Rochester Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Kansas City Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Cleveland Pops, National Orchestra of Santo Domingo, Symphony of the Americas (Ft. Lauderdale), Canton Symphony, and Orchestra di Toscana (France). He also performed recitals in cities such as Seoul, Paris (Chopin Festival), Chicago, Ravinia, Houston (Texas Music Festival), Portland (OR), Sacramento, Fort Worth (Cliburn Series), Salt Lake City (Assembly Hall), Duszniki Zdroj, Poland (Chopin Festival) and Toledo (Spain). He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keith Lockhart, Christopher Seaman, Fabio Mechetti, Daniel Hege, Louis Lane, Pascal Rophe', Grant Llewellyn and Stefan Sanderling.

Antonio's recordings include an all-Brahms disc (Azica), a live and unedited recital from his award-winning Cliburn Competition performances (Harmonia Mundi) and since 2002, he has recorded for Centaur Records. He serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and gives master classes around the world. He is often invited to judge international piano competitions.

Programme:
Czerny- Variations "La Ricordanza"
Hummel - Sonata No. 5, Op.81, in F-sharp minor
Rachmaninoff - Variations on a theme of Corelli
Brahms - Variations on a theme of Paganini

Admission:
R120 (adults), R80 (pensioners, students and learners)
R50 (group bookings of 10+)
Tickets available at Computicket.

Enquiries:
Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)