The Grieg Concerto is an absolute Masterpiece. Its longevity and popularity endure since the premiere, in 1869. Rachmaninoff considered it one of the greatest pieces ever written, and all the greatest pianists in history have played and recorded it. For me, the love affair with this work started when I was 11, after listening to a recording of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It was one of the very first Concertos I learned and performed. In 2002, when the possibility of a large-scale recording project presented itself, I jumped at the opportunity to record the complete solo and chamber music works of Grieg. The 12th and final CD of the set is the A minor Concerto. I am overjoyed at the chance of performing this beloved masterpiece with Maestro Pasquale Valerio, a musician who undoubtedly will know how to do justice to the exquisite lyricism of the piece. I look forward to playing it with him, and the Villages Philharmonic! 

-Antonio Pompa-Baldi

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BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi first came to the U.S. in 1999 to participate in the Cleveland International Piano Competition. He won the First Prize, 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, as well as the Award for the Best Performance of a New Work.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears regularly at the world's major concert venues including Cleveland's Severance Hall, Milan's Sala Verdi, New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall (both Isaac Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall), Boston's Symphony Hall, and Paris' Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Salle Pleyel, Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Théâtre du Châtelet.

He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keith Lockhart, Christopher Seaman, Louis Lane, Pascal Rophé, Grant Llewellyn, and Stefan Sanderling, performing with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Boston Pops, Orchestre National de Paris-Radio France, National Orchestra of Ukraine, National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, Orchestra of Tuscany (Italy), Fort Worth Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, among many others.
After a triumphant recital debut in Beijing, China, where Mr. Pompa-Baldi played in the Forbidden City Concert Hall, and Master Classes at the China National Conservatory, he was named Honorary Guest Professor of that Institution. Other notable recital engagements include Seoul , Paris (Chopin Festival), Chicago, Ravinia, Houston (Texas Music Festival), Portland (OR), Sacramento, Fort Worth (Cliburn Series), Salt Lake City (Assembly Hall), Duszniki Zdroj, Poland (Chopin Festival), Bologna, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Hartford , Miami, San Juan (Puerto Rico), London (England), Toledo, and Palma de Mallorca (Spain).
A passionate chamber musician, Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a frequent guest at events like the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Music in the Mountains Festival (Durango, CO), Strings in the mountains (Steambot Springs, CO), and the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society Series among others, collaborating with such ensembles as the Takacs and Cavani String Quartets, as well as principals of leading orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphonies.

Among upcoming orchestral engagements, Mr. Pompa-Baldi will perform with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic and Maestro Jose Antonio Molina, the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra under Maestro Philippe Entremont, the Johannesburg and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras in South Africa, the West Virginia Symphony, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Williamsburg Symphonia. Recital engagements include Nancy (France), Fort Worth (TX), Cleveland (OH), San Francisco (Liszt Society Festival), Eugene (OR), Hong Kong, Guanzhou (Cina), as well as a tour of South Africa. Masterclasses in Tokyo are scheduled for October 2012.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi's recordings include an all-Brahms disc (Azica), and a live and unedited recital from his award-winning Cliburn Competition performances (Harmonia Mundi).

Since 2002, he has recorded 15 CDs for Centaur Records: the Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas; the entire solo piano and chamber music output of Edward Grieg, in 11 volumes; an all-Rachmaninoff CD; an all-Schumann album; and the first volume of the Hummel Piano Sonatas.

Soon-to-be-released are the second volume of the Hummel Sonatas, and the Grieg Piano Concerto, also for Centaur.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi has been seen and heard many times on French National Television, Radio-France, Ukrainian National Television, Cleveland's WCLV, Boston's WGBH, and National Public Radio's "Performance Today". He was featured in the PBS documentary on the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition "Playing on the Edge", which premiered in October 2001 in USA and Canada.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appeared again on PBS in the documentary "Concerto: A sense of Self", featuring his performance of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon. This performance was also seen on French National Television in May, 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Prokofiev's death, as well as throughout Europe.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist. He serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and gives master-classes around the world, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, and at summer festivals including Piano Fest in the Hamptons, TCU-Cliburn Institute, Southeastern Piano Festival (University of South Carolina School of Music), Paisiello Academy (Lucera, Italy), Amalfi Coast Festival, and Napolinova Academy (Naples, Italy). He helped found the Academia Manuel Rueda in Santo Domingo, where he also gives regular masterclasses.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi is often invited to judge international piano competitions, and has served as president of the jury for the International Russian Piano Music Competition in San Jose, CA since 2006. His students have been prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head, Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer.

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