Enrico Elisi, pianist Pianist Enrico Elisi regularly performs in Europe, America, and Asia.  In 2009, North American engagements included a TV and a radio broadcast (WPSU, KGCS), as well as recitals at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and venues in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Missouri. In Asia, he recently performed and taught master classes in South Korea (Seoul, Busan, Daegu), Taiwan (Taipei), and China (Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xiamen, Fouzhou). He also returned to Europe for recitals in Germany and Italy. Elisi has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Florence Symphony, Italy; Orchestra Classica do Porto, Portugal; Bay Atlantic Symphony, New Jersey; Greeley Philharmonic, Colorado; UNLV Chamber Orchestra, Nevada; and Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra, Maryland.   In the summer of 2007, Elisi debuted as soloist/conductor, performing Mozart piano concerto K. 414, with the Green Valley Festival Chamber Orchestra.  In the 2009/10 season, Elisi will perform concertos with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra and the Penn State Philharmonic. He was featured as a recitalist in radio broadcasts, including WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio, and Radio Montebeni, Italy.  In 2008, Via Classica (TIDE 96.0), a German radio station, hosted a two-and-a-half-hour program about Elisi, offering a broadcast of his latest recital in Hamburg (recorded live), as well as an interview. In Italy, Elisi has won a number of first prizes in several competitions.  With his versatility he has garnered top awards at such diverse venues as the Venice Competition – which brought him a performance at the famous La Fenice theatre, in Italy – and, internationally, the Oporto International Competition – which led to a broadcast with the Orchestra Classica de Porto for Portuguese national television. An active chamber musician, Elisi has collaborated with many renowned artists, including principal players from major US orchestras. He has also taken part in and performed at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals, and has performed duo recitals in China with Naxos recording artist Qian Zhou. The newly formed Chihara Trio will present commissioned works by several composers (including Paul Chihara, from whom the trio takes its name), and will present a recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2010.  Elisi’s eclectic repertoire encompasses standard as well as rare or less frequently performed compositions. He is also a champion of new music and enjoys working with living composers. Elisi has commissioned and premiered several works at debut recitals in France; Carnegie Recital Hall, as a recipient of the La Gesse Foundation Fellowship; as well as other U.S. venues.  Between 2005 and 2008, he has performed and presented several premieres of composers from different nationalities, including Ukranian-born, American Virko Baley, Peruvian Jorge V. Grossmann and Celso G. Lecca (4th International Festival of Contemporary Music in Lima, Peru), Korean Kye Ryung Park (Nevada Encounters of New Music, Penn State, PA), and he was invited to perform music by Wolfgang Rihm, in Germany.  In 2009, Elisi commissioned K. R. Park two new works, one of which was premiered at Penn State University. Elisi will also pay tribute to renowned composer, award-winner, Paul Chihara, by performing a complete program of chamber works in his honor, during which the Chihara Trio will premiere a new work.

In Italy, the press lauded Elisi’s debut praising the “enduring respect in his approach to the great masters." The prophetic words of this critic - about Elisi's humility and respect for the work and its composer - foresaw the development of a stylistic path that legendary pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher further nurtured. Fleisher recognized "an awareness of those elements that distinguish the great artist from the pedestrian performer," in the young pianist and invited him to study at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship, where he earned both a master’s and doctoral degrees. The learning experience gained with the renown Artur Schnabel disciple (who traced his teaching lineage to Beethoven) represented a powerful, stimulating  adventure for Elisi. Prior to coming to the U.S., Elisi studied in Bologna, and Florence, Italy and gathered diplomas from the Conservatory of Florence and the world-renowned “Incontri col Maestro” International Piano Academy of Imola.  In Imola, he worked extensively with Alexander Goldenweiser’s disciple, Lazar Berman, as well as Boris Petrushansky, one of the last pupils of Heinrich Neuhaus.  Elisi also worked with the exceptionally gifted German pianist Alexander Lonquich, and had the opportunity to perform in several master classes for many well-known musicians, including Jörg Demus and Murray Perahia.  Elisi is on the piano faculty at Penn State University after having formerly served at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a frequent guest teacher at the Accademia delle Marche, in Italy, and has often traveled to China were he taught at the China Academy of Arts, in Hangzhou. Elisi has given master classes and presented performances in a many US universities, and, internationally, at the University of British Columbia, Canada; National Conservatory of Lima, Peru; Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan; Pusan National, Kyungsung, Catholic University of Daegu, South Korea. In 2007 Elisi was a featured soloist at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, performing a joint program with Leon Fleisher. Elisi directed the Piano Institute of the Las Vegas Music Festival and he is the co-founder and former director of the Green Valley Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he is active as an adjudicator of piano competitions in Canada (Tremplin International, and Concours de Musique du Canada) and the U.S. (Iowa Piano Competition, VMTA). Elisi’s efforts and strong believe on behalf of contemporary music prompted him to create the Arioso International Composition Competition which will present several premieres in 2010/11. Enrico Elisi was born and raised in Bologna, Italy – the charming city of the world’s oldest university. He has lived in the United States since 1996, and now divides his time between his home in Pennsylvania and his residence in Italy.  Enrico Elisi appears courtesy of Arioso Artists Management. For more information about Enrico Elisi, click here.