Musicians

Fabio Bidini, piano

Considered a major musical talent of his generation, pianist Fabio Bidini will perform Beethoven’s beloved “Emperor” Concerto with the Greensboro Symphony in its Beethoven Plus Masterworks concerts this weekend. This performance comes on very short notice for Bidini as the originally scheduled guest artist, Horatio Gutierrez, suddenly became ill. Bidini, a finalist in the Van Cliburn Competition, appeared with the Greensboro Symphony several years ago when he played Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Music critic Tim Lindeman of the News & Record noted of that exciting performance, “. . . it was clear that Bidini is a man of enormous strength and vitality. His vision of the work was strong and clear, and he proceeded to lay out its three movements with brilliance tempered by sensitive feeling. The way in which the pianist colored the embellishments was magic.

A native of Arezzo, Italy, Bidini began studying piano at the age of five. Following ten years of private study, he enrolled in the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome where he graduated magna cum laude. Winner of eleven prestigious national piano competitions in his native Italy, Bidini has subsequently been the recipient of the top prizes awarded in eight international competitions – Terni, Koln, Busoni (twice), Pretoria, Marsala, London and Fort Worth. In Italy, Bidini is regularly invited to the Brescia and Bergamo International Piano Festival, the most important Piano Festival in Italy.

Bidini’s concert appearances have included performances with The London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican, The Philharmonia Orchestra of London at Royal Festival Hall, New World Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Forth Worth Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra at Liszt Academy Hall. In the summer of 2005, he made his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Bidini made his North American debut at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Summer Festival performing Beethoven’s Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 80 with the Atlanta Symphony under the baton of Yoel Levi.

Following Bidini’s performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto on Thursday and Saturday evenings, the Greensboro Symphony, under the direction of Maestro Dmitry Sitkovetsky, will present a multi-media performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Artwork depicting the solemn pagan rituals expressed in the ballet plot will be projected above the orchestra during the performance.

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