Biography

Winner of the “Raymond E. Buck” Jury Discretionary Award at the 2017 Van Cliburn international piano competition, Leonardo Pierdomenico is described by the critics as “a pianist where highly developed technique and cultivated sound are combined with imagination and thoroughgoing, scrupulous musicality” (Patrick Rucker, Gramophone UK).

He is also the first prize winner, at just 18 years old, of the 28th edition of the “Premio Venezia” piano competition, held in Teatro La Fenice: hence the collaboration with orchestras such as the Fort Worth Symphony, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra, Orchestre Royal De Chambre de Wallonie, Teatro La Fenice Symphony Orchestra, LaVerdi Orchestra in Milan, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic and with conductors like Yves Abel, Diego Matheuz, Nicholas McGegan, Vahan Mardirossian, Fayçal Karoui, among the others.

Leonardo is invited in the most important Italian and international concert halls and festivals, including: Sala Verdi of the Conservatory in Milan, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Salle Moliére in Lyon, Maison de la radio in Paris, Chopin Festivals in Paris and in Nohant, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Filharmonia Narodowa in Warsaw, Flagey in Brussels, Liszt Festivals in Utrecht and Uchaux, Bass Hall in Fort Worth (TX), Merkin concert hall in New York, Qin’tai concert hall in Wuhan, Bologna Festival, Fazioli concert hall.

An eclectic concert artist, Leonardo made his debut in the 2022/2023 chamber season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, with the first Italian performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms in Shostakovic’s arrangement for piano duo and choir, and in the 2023/2024 ballet season of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he performed music by Chopin in the choreographies of the triptych Balanchine-Robbins.

Intrigued by the rarities of the piano repertoire, he also recorded Dvorak’s piano concerto with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra for the Brilliant Classics label and personally arranged for solo piano the symphonic poem “I Pini di Roma” by Respighi, published by Da Vinci Publishing.

He has already released four albums with the label Piano Classics: his debut album, dedicated to works by Franz Liszt, earned him an Editor’s Choice from Gramophone UK magazine and a nomination for recording of the year at the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (the prize of the union of German music critics).

Born in Abruzzo, Italy, Leonardo studied at the Conservatory in Pescara and in 2017 concluded the piano master’s degree with honors at the Accademia di S. Cecilia in Rome in the class of M° Benedetto Lupo. In 2016 he won a scholarship to attend the Music Academy of the West in California, collaborating with Maestri Jeremy Denk, Jean–Yves Thibaudet, Jerome Lowenthal, Julian Martin and Leon Fleisher.

A fervent chamber musician, Leonardo collaborates regularly in duo with the cellist Erica Piccotti.

He is often a guest of the Italian national radio RaiRadio3 and his recordings and live performances have been broadcast also by Medici.tv, RTBF (Belgium ) and Radio France. Leonardo is currently a piano professor at the Foggia Conservatory of music and the Avos Academy in Rome.