Maria Perrotta is an Italian classical pianist and a
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
artist.
Life and career
Born in
Cosenza
Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...
in 1974, Maria Perrotta made her debut with a symphony orchestra at the age of 11, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1. She came to the limelight in 2012, when she performed
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...
's
Goldberg Variations during her ninth month of pregnancy. Very few women in history had given a concert this far into their pregnancy; one of them being
Clara Schumann.
The live performance, published on CD by
Decca, received rave reviews: "''A perfect blend of the lush pianism of
Alexis Weissenberg
Alexis Sigismund Weissenberg ( bg, Алексис Сигизмунд Вайсенберг; 26 July 1929 – 8 January 2012) was a Bulgarian-born French pianist.
Early life and career
Born into a Jewish family in Sofia, Weissenberg began taking ...
and the laser-like focus of
Glenn Gould''".
In 2013 Decca released a CD of
Beethoven's last three piano sonatas played live by Maria Perrotta. The recording was acclaimed in leading musical magazines, including
Gramophone
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
, and in major newspapers: "''Where
Pollini is fast and formalistic, Perrotta is analytical and expressive, but, like Pollini, always maintains a sense of formal unity.''".
A graduate of the
Milan Conservatoire, the
École Normale de Musique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Sav ...
in Paris and the
National Academy of St Cecilia in Rome, Maria Perrotta has won top prizes in several international piano competitions including the Shura Cherkassky Piano Competition in Milan and the triennial
J.S. Bach Piano Competition in Germany. She has appeared with various orchestras, including the
RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin, and she has broadcast on
Sky TV and on German and
Italian radio.
Maria Perrotta is married to the Italian baritone Lucio Prete, with whom she has two daughters. They live in
Paris.
Discography
* J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations – 2014 Decca
* Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 30, 31, 32 – 2013 Decca
* Chopin: Maria Perrotta plays Chopin (Live, 2014) – 2015 Decca
* Schubert: Sonatas D784 & 960 – Grazer Fantasy D605A – 2017 Decca
References
External links
* http://mariaperrotta.eu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrotta, Maria
1974 births
Living people
Italian classical pianists
Italian women pianists
People from Calabria
People from Cosenza
Decca Records artists
Milan Conservatory alumni
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni
21st-century classical pianists
Women classical pianists
21st-century women pianists