Irene Russo (Italy)
Winner of the “Clara Schumann” International Piano Competition in Düsseldorf in 2000, Irene Russo studied under Franco Scala and Lazar Berman at the International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola.
Lazar Berman named her among his finest pupils in the biography dedicated to him. She furthered her training with Alicia de Larrocha and Aldo Ciccolini, earned a degree with honours in Pedagogy, and completed postgraduate studies in Bioethics as well as in Theory and Practice of Musical Cognition.
She also studied Composition with Teresa Procaccini, Musical Analysis with Marco De Natale, and Jazz Piano with Franco D’Andrea. She has received awards in numerous competitions, including the ARD Competition in Munich (2002) and the Martha Argerich Competition in Buenos Aires (2003).
The renowned Argentine pianist praised her and referred to her as a top Brahms interpreter in one of her rare interviews with the press. She has performed at many international festivals, including La Roque d’Anthéron, Heidelberg, Schloss-Elmau, Musica Viva, Variations Festival Nantes, Beethoven Festival, as well as numerous contemporary music festivals, where she is recognized as a leading interpreter.
Her extensive discography (Oehms Classics, Wergo, Edipan, Brilliant Classics) has received significant acclaim, including a Gold Disc for sales in the Netherlands, “CD of the Month” in Gramophone magazine, and five-star reviews in several specialized publications. Her recordings are regularly broadcast by major international radio stations (RAI, BBC, Bayerischer Rundfunk, ARD, ZDF, Radio 4 Klassiek Holland, Radio Klara Belgium, Classique 3, France Musique, CBC Radio Canada, HUHF Radio USA). Ms. Russo has performed both as a soloist and with orchestra in major international music venues, including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bozar in Brussels, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Palau de la Música in Valencia, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Gasteig in Munich, as well as in the United States, Canada, Middle and Far East, and Australia. She has performed approximately 30 concertos with orchestra, including the complete cycle of Beethoven’s five piano concertos and both of Brahms’s piano concertos.
She has appeared as a guest soloist with prestigious orchestras such as the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, deFilharmonie van Vlaanderen, Münchener Kammerorchester, Thüringen Philharmonie, Kiev National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Klassische Philharmonie, Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro San Carlo, and Houston OrchestraX. She has collaborated with distinguished conductors including: John Axelrod, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Susanna Mälkki, David Stern, Heribert Beissel, Fabio Mastrangelo, Alexander Liebreich, Marc Andreae, Misha Damev, Ovidiu Balan, and Michel Tilkin. Irene Russo is a very sought-after piano professor: for ten years she taught piano at the Royal Conservatories of Antwerp and Leuven in Belgium. She is regularly invited to give masterclasses at leading European institutions (Helsinki, Geneva, Groningen, Alicante, Brussels, Vienna) and to serve on the jury of international competitions (Antwerp, Treviso, Utrecht, Aalst, Karlsruhe).
Formerly piano professor at the Conservatories of Milan and Trieste, she currently teaches piano at the Conservatory of Music “G. Martucci” in Salerno.
www.irenerusso.com