Roberto Plano, Piano

Biography

First Prize Winner of the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Finalist at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005, Laureates of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition (Calgary, Canada) and the 2006 Axa Dublin International Piano Competition, Italian pianist Roberto Plano has performed throughout North America. Important venues here include Alice Tully Hall in New York City's Lincoln Center; Severance Hall in Cleveland, National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and others.

He regularly performs in Europe – notably at Sala Verdi in Milan, Salle Cortot in Paris and at the Herculessaal and Gasteig in Munich. He has appeared with orchestras in Italy, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Japan (Sendai Symphony), USA (Spokane, Akron, and Glens Falls (NY) Symphony Orchestras, among others) and Canada (Calgary Philarmonic), under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, James Conlon, among others. He has been a featured recitalist at the internationally acclaimed 57th Chopin Festival in Duszniki, Poland; the Festival at Sandpoint, Savannah Music Festival and Wassermann Piano Festival in the USA, in addition to festivals in Europe.
 
Recently Mr. Plano made his debut at the Festival "Les Fêtes Musicales" di Biarritz, France, toured Italy playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto, toured Canada and the U.S. (Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Cincinnati, Forth Worth, Austin, Los Alamos, Denver, and New York 's Steinway Hall), played with the Vienna Concert-Verein Orchestra at the Weston Recital Hall in Toronto, and made his debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa conducted by Pinchas Zuckerman.

Roberto Plano has appeared on a number of radio stations, including NPR's Performance Today, WNYC in New York City, WGBH's Classics in the morning (Boston), CBC's In Performance (Toronto), BBC In Tune, and RadioRai 3 Grammelot in Italy.  As a result of his success at the most recent Van Cliburn Competition, he appeared in the film documentaries "In the Heart of Music" and "Encores" (together with James Conlon and Menahem Pressler) which was aired on PBS stations across the United States, as well as in Europe through the satellite channel MEZZO. In 2006, Plano was chosen to participate in the DVD recording "A Masterclass with Jean-Michel Damase", filmed in Paris by ARTE at Salle Cortot; and together with Philippe Entremont, a second video project about the music of Mozart, broadcast by NHK in Japan.

Highlights of last seasons include Mr. Plano's debut with the strings of the Berliner Philarmoniker in Italy, his debut recital at London's Wigmore Hall, and as soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Plano has two recordings: a CD of works by Chopin, Liszt and Scriabin on Italy's Sipario Dischi label and a disc of works by Liszt on the Azica label. A new recording project which includes Brahms Sonata op.5 and Klavierstucke op.118 was released in 2006 by the Canadian label Arktos.

Mr. Plano has studied at the École Normale "Cortot" in Paris with Nelson Delle Vigne, where in 2004 he earned the "Diplome Superieur De Concertiste" with First Prize and special mention: "à l'unanimité et avec felicitations du jurie." While studying in Paris, he was selected to
participate in public master classes with such distinguished artists as
Philippe Entremont, Aldo Ciccolini, Joaquin Achucarro and François-René
Duchable. In 2003 he earned the International Certificate for Piano Artists from École Normale in collaboration with the University of Florida. Otherteachers have included Eli Perrotta, Walter Krafft, Lazar Berman, Bruno Canino, William Grant Naboré (Lake Como Academy) and Bruno Marengoni.

He lives in Italy in Travedona Monate, near Milan, where he teaches regularly at the new International Piano Academy "Lake Monate", created with his wife in the summer of 2008.During the summer he also regularly teaches at the Music International Masterclasses in Portogruaro, Italy.