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The Italian pianist, Stefano Greco, studied initially at the Conservatory "Tito Schipa" in Lecce, Italy with Antonio Serrano. He graduated with full marks, and went on to win prizes in several piano competitions within Italy, before continuing his studies with Hector Pell, at the Accademia Superiore "G. Curci" in Barletta and then, from 1995 to 1998, with Aldo Ciccolini at the Accademia "A. Ciccolini" in Trinitapoli. During this period, Stefano gave lectures on "The Mechanics of Piano Technique", "The Golden Section", "Mathematical Proportions in Music" and "Bach's Polyphony". He graduated from the Accademia "A. Ciccolini" with full marks, Summa Cum Laude and Honorable Mention, and in 2000, was Top Winner in the Ibla Grand Prize International Piano Competition, where he also won the Bach Special Mention Award and the "Città di Pozzallo" Prize. He has also a prize winner of the Glenn Gould International Piano Competition.
An artist who combines a robust tone and elegant technique with profound intellectual and emotional understanding of the music that he performs, Stefano Greco is fast building a reputation as one of the finest Italian pianists of his generation. He was recently made a Steinway Artist, and in April 2007 gave his first recital in this capacity as part of the 2007 World Sacred Music Week in Florence, performing J.S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) at the Chiesa di S. Stefano al Ponte Vecchio. Since then, he has performed The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) in Verona, for Accademia Filarmonica, in Cagliari, for Mozart Italy Association, and again he will perform it in New York, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Munich, etc.
Stefano Greco's debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall (Zankel) in December 2007, was acclaimed by a lengthy standing ovation, and Greco was received enthusiastically by both public and critics. He “demonstrated an absolute control of his art […] with a total fidelity to music and with a master’s touch; from lightly caressing the keys to a raging storm, from a barely perceptible whispering to a thunderous, devilish racing up and down the obliging keys […] and many times, in this hall with perfect acoustics, everyone leapt up at once: from the numbered seats, from the parterre and the balcony, applauding and screaming ‘bravo’!” (America Oggi). Stefano gave his Wigmore Hall debut in November 2005, where he presented an ingenious programme entitled “The Later Art of the Fugue”, a collaboration with scientist, researcher, writer and documenter Robert Temple, which brought to light masterpieces of contrapuntal music, many of them rarely heard in concert, including the world premieres of fugues by Puccini, transcribed for the piano by Greco, and Dinu Lipatti, also edited by Greco.
Other recent recital appearances include a tour of seven cities in Central and South America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile) under the aegis of the Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica, an evening concert as part of the Carnegie Hall Notables series at The Mark Hotel, New York, lunchtime performances in the well-know London churches St James’s, Piccadilly and St Martin-in-the-Fields, and recitals in St. John's, Smith Square and the Steinway Halls of London, Munich and New York. In 2001, Stefano Greco made a concert tour in the USA, Canada and Japan, where he made his début at some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Alice Tully Hall, New York's Lincoln Center, and the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo. As well as frequent recital, chamber music and concerto appearances in Italy, Stefano has also performed in Amsterdam, The Hague, Prague, Hamburg, Aleppo and Damascus.
Stefano Greco has appeared in broadcastings by Radios and TVs such as RAI, RAI International, Radio Vatican, Radio Beethoven (the main classic music radio in Chile), Opus 94 (the main classic music radio in Mexico), and in the famous show “Reflections from the keyboard”, directed by David Dubal in New York.
Stefano Greco is an exclusive recording artist with Brancusi Classics, a new label that will be launched in Spring 2008 with the release of four discs featuring solo performances by Stefano, with plans to release a further sixteen discs over the next three years. His Wigmore Hall recital programme, “The Later Art of the Fugue”, is likely to be among the first releases, while other plans in the pipeline include the complete Keyboard Suites of George Frideric Handel, the complete Nocturnes and Preludes of Frédéric Chopin, the complete Nocturnes of Field, Debussy’s Images, J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) (with participation of Aldo Ciccolini, for the two piano fugues), in addition to the re-release of his acclaimed Goldberg Variations (BWV 988).
Stefano Greco’s profound passion for music in general and for J.S. Bach in particular has prompted him to undertake intensive study and research, expressed through his playing, the lectures that he gave whilst a student at the Accademia "A. Ciccolini", and his many realizations and editions of J.S. Bach’s music, including transcribing 14 Canons on the First 8 Fundamental Notes of the Aria from Bach's Goldberg-Variationen for solo piano, and creating two-piano versions of the Musikalisches Opfer and "Erbarme dich, mein Gott" from the Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244).
Stefano Greco is increasingly in demand for his teaching, and in spare moments away from the platform and recording studio enjoys giving international master classes (the next ones will be in New York Bard College and in California State University), working with students on repertoire ranging from keyboard pieces by William Byrd to contemporary works for piano. |
