Aldo Ciccolini
Italian-born French pianist Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples on 15 August 1925, where he studied at the conservatory with Paolo Danza from the age of nine and played at the Theater San Carlo from the age of sixteen. He won the 1949 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaut competition in Paris, and stayed on there to study with Marguerite Long. He became a French citizen in 1969.
In 2002 he was rewarded with the Diapason d'or for his recordings of the solo piano music of Leos Janácek and Robert Schumann. Ciccolini's repertoire includes music by Charles-Valentin Alkan, Ludwig van Beethoven, Alexis de Castillon, Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt, Jules Massenet, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie and Déodat de Séverac.
Aldo Ciccolini died on 1 February 2015, aged eighty-nine.
A selection of articles about Aldo Ciccolini
Absolutely Outstanding - Kotaro Fukuma's performances of Schumann, Chopin and Liszt amaze Bill Newman
New Year Blues - A roundup of recent London concerts by Bill Newman
Ensemble. Impeccable Standards - Bill Newman's pick of June and July concerts at London's Wigmore Hall
Ensemble. Perfectly Measured - Bill Newman listens to Aldo Ciccolini
Profile. Tête-à-Tête - Bill Newman talks to British pianist Mark Bebbington