Biography
Possessing a multifaceted musical personality, Carlo Balzaretti began his concert activity at a very early age, giving numerous piano recitals, participating in RAI television broadcasts, recording CDs and playing a significant role in the teaching and dissemination of classical music in Italy.
He began his musical studies at the age of four with Franca Balzaretti, graduating in Piano and Composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, with professors Alberto Mozzati, Paolo Bordoni, Angelo Corradini, Danilo Lorenzini and Azio Corghi, in addition to furthering his musicological, humanistic and orchestral conducting studies.
Winner of first prizes at various national (Osimo and Bologna) and international competitions, most notably the Maria Canals Prize in Barcelona in 1982, he was chosen to represent Italy in 1986 –as the only Italian competitor– at the Eurovision Young Musicians contest in Copenhagen (Denmark). He also represented his country in 1989 and 1990 in the Concerts for Europe organised by the European Economic Community and broadcast via satellite by Italian Radio-Television (RAI).
He has played in much of Europe, Asia and the United States, participating in numerous festivals such as Bergamo and Brescia, Festa Musica Pro in Assisi and Orvieto, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the International Mozart Festival 2004, GOG Genoa, Salle Gaveau, Parigi, the Master Concert Series in Rome, Siena Chigiana Academy, Bergamo Quartet Society, Ente Teatro Comunale, Treviso, Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, Laudamo-Messina Philharmonic, Ass. Pro Musicians, Geneva, the Santander Festival, the Granada Festival, the Sala Greppi Season in Bergamo, Angelicum, Pomeriggi Musicali, Serate Musicali, Milan, Brussels, Rey Concert Hall, Istanbul, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan in 2001 and 2002and 2013, “International piano Festival Beijing” Wigmore Hall, London in 2006, the U. Giordano Festival in 2009 and 2010, the International Festival of Toledo in 2010, the Sanremo Symphonic Orchestra Season, Varna State Philharmonic Orchestra and the F. Liszt Festival, Bellagio in 2011, among others.
In March 1993, he made his debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington along with the Melos Symphony Orchestra. The influential Washington Post said: “Pianist Carlo Balzaretti proved to be a fine soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.24 in C Minor, Kv.491. He tantalized the audience with a solid Mozartian technique and an intelligent conception of the work”. The concerts Balzaretti performed in Italy playing Horowitz’s piano, as well as his tours alongside the celebrated clarinettist Gervase de Peyer in both France and Italy, aroused considerable public and critical acclaim.
Equally active as far as record production is concerned, the following recordings stand out: the Album des 6, un pianoforte tra Verlaine e Cocteau CD, published by the DDT recording label (Turin), Música da Camera di N. Rota on Dynamic, three LPs with CGD, recordings of his own compositions for Bajka Music, Agora, l’Esprit Accord, Radiant (England) with G. De Peyer and the “Accordi”, among others. His recent releases include four CDs for Tactus and Dynamic dedicated to Italian chamber music, especially Viotti’s works for piano and flute.
In the online sites of iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Nokia Music, Tidal and Qobuz Balzaretti is present with over seventy titles, available in audio streaming, edited by Halidon and M.A.P.
Special mention should also be made of the concert and master class at the Central Conservatory in Beijing in October 2008, his collaboration with the Beijing Piano Festival in 2010, the master classes held in Seoul (South Korea) in January 2010 and at the Beihua University, Jilin (China) in July 2011. That same year he participated –both as a pianist and speaker– in the “Uto Ughi, progetto giovani” project organised by the International Festival of Brescia and Bergamo.
As a composer, his musical works have been performed by internationally renowned musicians such as the soprano Tai-Li Chu, the clarinettist Gervase de Peyer, the cellist Claudio Marini, the violinist Domenico Nordio, the jazz pianist Guido Manusardi and the soprano Keiko Koizumi, who recorded a CD with Elegia publicly presented in Tokyo by the Japanese Ministry of Culture in 2007. In the autumn of 2012, the celebrated pianist Cyprien Katsaris performed –in Japan’s major cities and in Italy– the work 11th March 2011, composed by Balzaretti in tribute to the victims of the tsunami.
In the last years he has several tourneé in Japan, China, Taiwan, Corea and Brasil: Tokyo-Bunkyo Civic Hall, Taipei National Concert Hall 2014.
He is the author of several music publications published by Ricordi, Warner Bros. and Hachette. For a number of years now, he has focused on the field of piano teaching and his publications have been adopted by conservatories and music schools. Since 1994, he has worked with various Italian conservatories as an artistic-didactic coordinator and director (Conservatory L. Marenzio-Brescia, Castelfranco Veneto and L. Perosi-Campobasso)
Actually, he is Director of Conservatory G. Verdi Como and Kalaidos University of Music of Milan.
From June 2018 he is a Ministerial Councilor and national assessment expert for the Afam / Anvur Italian Conservatories.
