Riccardo Zadra

For over thirty years, Riccardo Zadra has carried out a multifaceted artistic career as a solo pianist, chamber musician, teacher, researcher, author of essays, and a passionate explorer of personal growth and human potential development.

As a soloist, he has performed for major international concert institutions such as the Musikhalle in Hamburg, the Chopin Festival in Poland, RTSI in Lugano, Serate Musicali in Milan, the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, and has appeared with prestigious orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Chile Symphony Orchestra, the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, and the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra. His curiosity has led him to develop a vast solo repertoire ranging from Bach to Ligeti; he has performed the complete piano works of Debussy, including two Italian premières, and has taken part in numerous concerts on historical pianos, including the complete Beethoven sonatas for the GOG in Genoa. A CD entirely dedicated to Bizet’s piano works for the Gallo label, featuring several world premiere recordings, received enthusiastic reviews from the American and European press.

He maintains an active chamber music career with the Hèsperos Piano Trio, founded with Filippo Lama and Stefano Guarino, with whom he has performed, among other works, the complete Beethoven piano trios at the Società del Quartetto in Vicenza and in the concert season of the Orchestra da Camera di Brescia. He has extensive experience in a wide variety of chamber ensembles, collaborating with musicians such as Antonio Ballista, Lucia Rizzi (with whom he recorded, in addition to unpublished Rossini works, the world premiere recording of Angelo Mariani’s songs for Amadeus), and Fulvio Luciani (with whom he recorded the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Schumann for Sky Classica and Amadeus). He also regularly performs in piano duo with Federica Righini.

He is Professor of Piano at the Conservatory of Vicenza and founded and directed, from 1998 to 2013, the International Piano Academy of Padua, of which Aldo Ciccolini was honorary president and which has trained numerous Italian pianists. For many years, together with Federica Righini, he has conducted original research into the psychophysiological aspects of musical interpretation, exploring various disciplines related to the development of human potential. To this end, he has studied numerous personal growth methodologies, including Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Avatar® Course, of which he is an authorised instructor. In addition to several articles, in 2010 he co-authored with Federica Righini the book Maestro di te stesso. Guida pratica alla realizzazione personale e artistica del musicista, published by Curci. Since then, their work has spread throughout Italy through courses and masterclasses in conservatories and public and private institutions, remaining unique in its field.

He graduated with honours and distinction from the Conservatorio “C. Monteverdi” in Bolzano and obtained his postgraduate diploma at the École internationale de piano in Lausanne with Fausto Zadra. He later studied with Aldo Ciccolini and attended advanced courses with Nikita Magaloff, Carlo Zecchi, Hans Leygraf, and Yvonne Lefébure. Winner of ten first prizes in national and European competitions, in 1988 he won second prize overall at the Sydney International Piano Competition, along with the audience prize, the prize for best Mozart concerto performance, and the prize for best performance of Australian music.