"The music conjures up on his face a subtle interplay of sensations, entirely from within – the faithful reflection of his musicianship." (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Swiss-Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi, a native of Locarno, has over the years gained a reputation as one of the leading interpreters of the German classical and romantic repertoire. He appears as a regular guest with many of the world’s leading orchestras, in concert halls and music festivals around the globe, and was Artistic Director of the Settimane Musicali di Ascona from 2012 to 2024.
With his subtle but mesmerizing interpretations of Schubert’s piano sonatas as well as the solo works and piano concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt, he has been acclaimed internationally by critics and audiences alike. His playing is characterized by sensitivity, intimacy and poetry, but also by power and brilliance. Above all, it is important to him to illuminate the scores from within: "Making music is like a second language for me. It feels like an existential necessity. I don’t want to entertain the audience, I want to let them participate in the deep dimensions of music."
As a soloist, he has played alongside leading orchestras such as Berlin, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Wiener Symphoniker, the Boston, Chicago, NHK and London Symphony Orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe as well as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly collaborates with distinguished conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Daniele Rustioni, Lorenzo Viotti, Robin Ticciati, Iván Fischer, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Marek Janowski, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Søndergård, Daniel Harding, Roger Norrington, Karina Canellakis, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta, Nathalie Stutzmann, Elim Chan and Maxim Emelyanychev.
The 2025/26 season includes premiering the Beat Furrer Piano Concerto (dedicated to Francesco Piemontesi) with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Munich, as well as further solo appearances with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Symphony Orchestra; in North America with the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore and Toronto Symphony Orchestras and with the Seoul Philharmonic.
A consummate recitalist, he has recently appeared at the Auditorium Lyon, Dvořák Hall at Rudolfinum, Tonhalle Zurich, Schubertiade Festival, and La Chaux-de-Fonds. In the 2025/26 season he performs at the Musikverein, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and at the Wigmore Hall in London, where he is a regular favourite.
In addition to the classical and romantic periods, Francesco Piemontesi’s wider repertoire includes works by Bach and Handel in original versions and transcriptions, piano concertos by Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, Rachmaninoff and Schönberg, as well as works by Olivier Messiaen and Unsuk Chin. Among his many important musical influences, he highlights his distinguished teachers Arie Vardi and Alfred Brendel, but above all French concert pianist Cecile Ousset. It is to her that he owes his rounded tone and a somnambulistic technique that is rooted in the French piano tradition going back to Marcel Ciampi.
His musical artistry is documented on numerous recordings that have received awards and critical acclaim, such as Schubert’s last Piano Sonatas, Debussy’s Preludes and Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze and two of the most demanding pieces of the piano literature: Liszt’s "Transcendental Etudes" and the B minor Sonata. In September 2025, Pentatone released his latest album, a recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Manfred Honeck.
Working with fellow musicians and orchestras alike, Francesco Piemontesi’s collaborations form themselves from the nucleus of friendship, appreciation and creativity. He recently has been Artist in Residence with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Dresden Philharmonie and Gstaad Menuhin Festival. As adept on the concert stage as he is in smaller chamber combinations, he appears with a variety of partners including Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Janine Jansen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Augustin Hadelich and Jörg Widmann.
Francesco Piemontesi collaborated with director Jan Schmidt-Garre on the documentary film "The Alchemy of the Piano", which was released in November 2024. Filmed over one year, he talked with some of the world’s leading performers, including his mentor, the late Alfred Brendel, Maria João Pires, Stephen Kovacevich and Antonio Pappano, in a series of revealing encounters that illuminate their individual approaches to the instrument, its colour and form.