Andrea Padova first achieved international critical attention when he won the J.S.Bach International Piano Competition in Germany in 1995. Since then has concertized throughout the world, including New York (Carnegie Hall), Washington (Washington Performing Arts Society), Montreal, Vancouver, Rome (Radio Symphony Orchestra), Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Munich (Gasteig), Tel Aviv, Istambul. His last Washington performance prompted The Washington Post to write the pianist Andrea Padova turns sound into poetry. His virtuosity, sensitively managed, resounds through every measure.
Born in 1962, he studied piano with Vincenzo Vitale, Aldo Ciccolini, Eric Larsen and composition with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di S.Cecilia in Rome. At the same time, deeply involved in contemporary music, he collaborated with famous composers, among which Pierre Boulez, Goffredo Petrassi, Franco Donatoni, and Leonard Bernstein.
In addition to the J.S.Bach International Piano Competition, Andrea Padova has been the recipient of many other prizes both as a pianist and as a composer (Wiener Wettbewerb für neue Musik, A.Casella of the Accademia Chigiana di Siena, Wiener Masters, Concorso Nuove Musiche per Strumenti Antichi, Concorso G.F. Malipiero and others). His works have been performed at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Festival di Musica Antica di Urbino, Wiener Festival für Neue Musik etc.
Harold Schonberg wrote of Padova’s first CD: a strong personality, conviction, freedom, and style. About his recording dedicated to “Ferruccio Busoni & Bach” the authoritative review Gramophone wrote: He creates some of the same dark, sustained, organ-like tone that marks Rubinstein's hypnotic 1934 recording...An ideal advocate for Busoni (Arved Ashby).
With his last piano solo crossover cd Landscape in Motion, he received the prestigious Prize Le Veneri 2006 for his capability to invent a language magically suspended between the power of classical music and the energy and freshness of Jazz.
After his concert at Merkin Hall the New York Times enthusiastically reviewed his recent works: he writes in an accessible, freewheeling style. His Prelude combined allusions to Bach and a variant of John Coltrane’s Love Supreme before sailing off on its own. Across the Border Line begins with a bright, attractive melody over a quietly rumbling bass, and evolves into a thundering showpiece. Stream developed similarly, starting with a jazzy chromatic ripple and ending with Lisztian explosiveness. And Highways has a sprightly character that suggests a car chase captured on film and played back at double speed. (Allan Kozinn).
After the success of his second cd Notes posted on the refrigerator and his debut at Teatro La Scala in Milan (Chopin Piano Concerto n. 2, Andante Spianato and Polonaise Brillante and Fantasy on Polish Themes) the authoritative music magazine Insound named him Best Italian Pianist 2008.
