Grand Piano

Grand Piano
Held March 11, 2023 \
The Palace Theatre, Greensburg

Higdon: Machine
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5
Antonio Pompa-Baldi, piano
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique”

Italian pianist and Steinway Artist Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. He performs Beethoven’s epic Piano Concerto No. 5 conducted by Daniel Meyer. The concert features contemporary American composer Jennifer Higdon’s single-movement orchestral piece Machine and concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique.”

Press: Westmoreland Symphony’s ‘Grand Piano’ features world-renowned soloist Tribune-Review March 11, 2023

From the Artistic Director 

“Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a celebrated artist with whom I have had the honor of collaborating with throughout my career.  His musicianship features a combination of joyous virtuosity and probing depth, where he can truly dig behind the notes and draw out the delight and majesty of Beethoven’s great ‘Emperor’ Concerto.

Jennifer Higdon’s ‘Machine’ is a romp – a brief but powerful orchestral statement that whirrs and stomps with the force of an entire factory of sounds.  It’s hard to imagine this music could even exist without our modern world of robotics, mechanization, and forged steel. 

Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathetique’ Symphony is treasured for its incredible depth of expression and human emotion.  There are moments of glorious triumph juxtaposed with profound grief.  If one could ever encapsulate the human experience in one work, Tchaikovsky’s 6^th stands as one of the few symphonies which can sweep you away in a wash of orchestral color and heart-on-sleeve emotional directness.”

~Daniel Meyer

 Meet Antonio Pompa-Baldi

Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, France, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris’ Salle Pleyel, to name a few.

He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with ensembles and colleagues such as Takacs String Quartet, Alison Balsom, Sharon Robinson, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and New York Philharmonic, among others.

With a concerto repertoire including more than 60 works, Mr. Pompa-Baldi recently performed cycles of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, and both Brahms Concertos with various orchestras. He has played recitals in most major venues over the world. 

In 2019, he was a returning guest at the third edition of the Lang Lang International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China, continued his honorary guest professorship at the Beijing China Conservatory, and was named honorary professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music. Among the stops on his tours, he performed in Vienna (Austria), Malaga (Spain), Nancy (France), New York, and throughout China (Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Dalian, and Guangzhou). 

Pompa-Baldi has recorded over 30 CDs to date, for various labels including Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, Brilliants, and Centaur Records. Among them, the complete piano and chamber music works of Grieg, the Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas, the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas, and CDs dedicated to Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Respighi, Roberto Piana, and Rachmaninoff.

For the Steinway label, Pompa-Baldi recorded a disc of songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf, arranged for solo piano, to commemorate the 50th year of the passing of both French musical icons, as well as a CD titled “Napoli”, which features new piano versions of famous Neapolitan songs. His latest releases feature Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Mendelssohn (Brilliant Classics), Haydn, and Hummel (Centaur Records). 

Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist. He is often invited to judge international piano competitions such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Competition, BNDES Rio de Janeiro, and Edward Grieg, among many others. He serves as president of the jury and artistic advisor for the San Jose International Piano Competition since 2006.

Pompa-Baldi is on the Piano Faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. His students have been prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head, Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer. He is regularly invited to teach masterclasses in countless Universities, Music Schools, and Festivals in the US and all over the world.

In 2015, Pompa-Baldi founded the Todi International Music Masters festival, of which he is the Artistic Director and Faculty Member. This summer festival takes place every August in the beautiful Italian town of Todi. It features 15 concerts in 15 days, with internationally renowned faculty members, and students from all over the world.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears by exclusive arrangement with Diane Saldick, LLC, 225 E. 36 St. New York, N.Y. www.dianesaldick.com

Guest artists and programs are subject to change.