Arts and Entertainment

Pianist Enrico Elisi presents lecture-recital and masterclass at University Park

Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — University of Toronto piano professor Enrico Elisi will present a lecture-recital on the piano music of Gioachino Rossini at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13, in Esber Recital Hall at University Park. Admission is free. He will also present a piano masterclass at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14, in Esber Recital Hall, which is free and open to the public.

Born and raised in Bologna, Italy, Elisi has been hailed for his mastery of elegance, refinement and fantasy. He regularly performs to acclaim throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, and his interpretations reveal “remarkable sensitivity, imagination and polish,” according to the Baltimore Sun.

In Italy, he has appeared in historical settings such as La Fenice Theatre, Venice; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Bibiena Theatre, Mantua; Pavarotti Opera House, Modena; Teatro Comunale and Sala Bossi, Bologna; Sant’Anna dei Lombardi Church, Naples; as well as the Amalfi Cathedral. He has also given recitals in various European countries including France, Germany, Slovak Republic and Spain. In Asia he performed in South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore. Recent engagements include recitals at the Banff Centre for the Arts; Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall; the New York Public and Morgan libraries; the Italian Embassy and National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; the Centro Cultural de España in Lima, Peru; as well as several performances in Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee.

Elisi has appeared with the Florence Symphony in Italy; Orchestra Classica de Porto in Portugal; and the Bay Atlantic Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Williamsport Symphony, Pennsylvania Centre, Penn State Philharmonic, Penn’s Woods, UNLV Chamber, and Johns Hopkins Symphony orchestras in the United States. He also debuted as soloist/conductor with the Green Valley Festival Chamber Orchestra and worked, among others, with conductors Gerardo Edelstein, Jed Gaylin and Taras Krysa.

Among Elisi’s awards are top prizes in the Venice Competition (Italy) and the Oporto International Competition (Portugal). After winning nine first prizes in competitions in Italy and the U.S., and having garnered a dozen of other top prizes and awards, Elisi performed in Toulouse, France, and New York’s Weill Recital Hall as a La Gesse Fellow.

Via Classica, a German radio station, offered a two-hour broadcast of Elisi’s live recital in Hamburg followed by an interview (2008). Additional radio broadcasts include Montebeni Classica FM (Italy), WCLV Cleveland, UNC, KCNV Nevada Public Radio, and KGCS (U.S.). He also appeared in a TV broadcast for WPSU and Portuguese national TV.

An avid chamber musician, Elisi has performed at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals, and collaborated with principal players from the Baltimore, Chicago and American symphony orchestras, as well as other well-known soloists such as violinists Qian Zhou, Charles Castleman and Federico Agostini (former leader of I Musici). As a champion of new music, Elisi has commissioned and premiered works from composers of many nationalities. He also premiered Paul Chihara’s "Two Images" at Weill Hall — a composition he subsequently recorded (for Albany Records) with Timothy Deighton and Anthony Costa.

A frequent guest at music festivals, Elisi appears and performs regularly in such settings as Cincinnati “Art of the Piano,” Montecito, Lee University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Texas State University festivals, and the Chautauqua Institution (U.S.); Associazione Umbria classica and Amalfi Coast Festival (Italy); Ameri-China Foundation and Sichuan International Piano Festival (China). In 2017 he will be the featured artist at the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association State Conference, will perform at the American Liszt Society Festival at Northwestern University, and will also be in residence at the Valencia International Performance Academy and Festival in Spain, and the new AmiCa Fest in Sicily, Italy.

Elisi recently joined the distinguished Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto as an associate professor, having previously taught at the Eastman School, Penn State, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His current and former students have been prize-winners in competitions; hold teaching posts; have performed with orchestras (including the Rochester Philharmonic and Dallas Chamber Symphony); gave debut recitals from New York to Caracas, Paris and Seoul; garnered fellowships and scholarships at summer programs; and have been accepted in Artist Diploma, MM, and DMA programs in prestigious institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Elisi also presented hundreds of masterclasses, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, at Northwestern University, Boston University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Temple University, the University of Michigan; University of British Columbia; National Conservatory of Lima, Peru; Accademia delle Marche, Italy; Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan; China Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, China; Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong; Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Singapore; Jakarta Conservatory, Indonesia; Seoul National, Yonsei, Hanyang, Ewha Woman’s, as well as most other major universities in Korea. Elisi also held a two-year guest professorship at the China Zhejiang Art School in Hangzhou, China, and since 2013 he has been teaching an annual workshop in Seoul.

As an adjudicator, he has been on the juries of the Tremplin International and the Concours de Musique du Canada, the Iowa, Peabody Yale Gordon, Julia Crane International, Fite Young Artist, Southern Methodist University Concerto competitions, as well as the Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas State Music Teachers Associations’ competitions and the Ameri-China Foundation Competition in Chengdu, China. In 2017 he will adjudicate the Dallas International Piano Competition.

After studying at the Conservatory of Bologna and Florence and the world-renowned Incontri col Maestro International Piano Academy of Imola, Elisi worked with Schnabel’s disciple Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. A year after graduating, at Fleisher’s invitation, he performed at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in a joint recital with his mentor. Among his teachers were pianist Lazar Berman and Boris Petrushansky, respectively pupils of Goldenweiser and Neuhaus, as well as Alexander Lonquich, Franco Scala and Giuseppe Fricelli.

 

Last Updated January 9, 2017