BIOGRAPHY

Alfonso Soldano is an Italian concert pianist and teacher, with a solid educational background and stylistic preparation, an international career, as well as attention and extensive experience in charitable events with a social background.

Alfonso Soldano is a meritorious citizen of the City of Trani, on the initiative and unanimous approval of the administration and the municipal council, with a celebratory ceremony and concert held on 30 July 2020, for proven artistic merit.

Alfonso Soldano, precocious and innate pianist talent, won his first musical competition at the age of 7 in Taurisano (LE), and won numerous other first absolute prizes, or was a finalist, in national and international competitions (Milan prize Società Umanitaria, Formia, Matera, etc.), and then completed an academic education and graduated from the Conservatory with 110 honors and honorable mention (grade awarded for the first time since the birth of piano degrees in Italy).

He made his debut as a teenager in Mozart's Concerto K488, conducted by Valfrido Ferrari, and immediately afterwards at the Teatro Garibaldi in Bisceglie, in Rachmaninov's Concerto n.2, conducted by Ovidiu Balan.

His artistic training proceeds under the high teaching of the legendary Italian-French pianist Aldo Ciccolini, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, from adolescence to youth, and the maestro exclusively grants Alfonso an endorsement to set up a musical academy in favor of talents and culture.

Thus the Aldo Ciccolini Foundation of Trani was born in 2015, which has promoted numerous events of high artistic standing, in the spirit of social benefit, territorial rebalancing, and support of young talents. Alfonso Soldano finally brilliantly obtained the High Specialization diploma at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo.

In the teaching field, Alfonso Soldano is a principal piano teacher, serving at the "N.Piccinni" Superior Conservatory of Music in Bari, and has already been a principal piano professor at the Conservatories of Rome - Santa Cecilia, Taranto, Foggia, Lecce, Teramo , and is also regularly invited to hold masterclasses in important foreign institutions (China, United States, Ukraine).

Alfonso Soldano was awarded in 2013 as the best young Italian artist with the Maison des Artistes Gold Medal in the great hall of La Sapienza University of Rome.

As a solo pianist he has performed in numerous theaters and festivals in Italy (we highlight the Theaters of Foggia, Lecce, Bisceglie, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Palazzo Barberini, and in Verona, Milan, Bologna, Bari, Teramo, L' Aquila and many others) and abroad (we highlight the Great Hall of the Kiev Philharmonic, the National Tchaikovsky Academy in Kiev, the Kotlyarevsky University of Arts in Kharkiv, the G.Verdi Auditorium in Budapest, the G.Enescu Festival in Bucharest , Auditorium Ateneu M.Jora in Bacau, San Jiang Talents Center for the Arts in Ning Bo/Shanghai, Chateau Louis in Blois-Chambord/Val de Loire, Hindemith Foundation in Vevey and many others). He has collaborated with conductors such as M.Cormio, O.Balan, D.Frandes, V.Zhadko and others.

The 2023 and 2024 Seasons include, among other events, concerts in Zurich), Fondazione Grassi di Martina Franca, Festival Herbst Musicaux in Verona, in the United States (Los Angeles, Athena Foundation), as well as being a guest artist for Yamaha&Bosendorfer Piano Cremona Musica Festival 2023, a new concert for the Husum Festival and various events for Italian musical institutions.

In the editorial field, Alfonso Soldano has expressed himself as an essayist and writer in the sector, with the following texts: Journey into Ecstasy - Alexander Skrjabin (2010) - History and analysis of the Russian piano school and teaching (2010) - Liszt's Totentanz (2010) - The Border of Deception (2015), the only global biography of the Ukrainian composer Sergej Bortkiewicz, all published by Florestano Edizioni. He has also expressed himself as a transcriber and author of printed music for the most important global publishing house, Boosey & Hawkes, and has a long series of publications to his credit also with MusePress (Japan).

In the recording field, Alfonso Soldano is one of the Italian pianists most appreciated by English and American music critics, and his debut solo album in 2016 received positive reviews in more than 20 countries, as well as being partially broadcast on Rai Radio Tre (broadcast " Here It Begins”, 5 February 2023).

His second solo album, dedicated to the composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, containing world premiere recordings, was voted in the top ten of music albums in Florida and received 5 stars, maximum critical score, from the US magazine Fanfares; the same album was selected  to be played on the civil air fleet of the Sultanate of Brunei, the only Italian pianist. Alfonso Soldano is Senior Artist of the prestigious Anglo-American record label Divine Art Recordings Group, and his third solo album, dedicated to the Russian composer Sergej Rachmaninov, was designated Best Critic's Choice by the oldest and most selective American music magazine, American Record Guide and Album of the Month January 2021, interview and critical acclaim from International Piano Magazine, the most authoritative English music magazine.

Alfonso Soldano is currently the only Italian pianist to have received these results, and has signed for a forthcoming album dedicated entirely to the music of Alexander Skrjabin.

In the social sphere, throughout his career, Alfonso Soldano makes music a beneficial instrument, and promotes events with this thematic purpose in the ideal of uniting and rebalancing.

He lives in Trani.