After a lot of thinking on concert life and the limits of traditional touring, I have decided to try a radically different way of shaping my concert season, for 2025-26 and future years to come.
The idea is simple: instead of constantly travelling from one concert venue to another, I will focus on 7 cities in different parts of the world, staying in each for a full month and offering much more than a single performance.
The residencies will be organised around five themes: performances, teaching, education, outreach and philanthropy.
7 Cities
The project is set to have residencies in Vienna, Hong Kong, Cape Town, Portland, Santa Fe, Milan, supported by the foremost classical music institutions in each city. More international cities will be announced soon.
Performances
Each residency should have at its core two significant concerts: a recital in an important hall and a concerto performance with a symphony orchestra.
New Music
The recitals will be built around piano sonatas from the classical and romantic repertoire, as well as seven newly commissioned sonatas by composers Beat Furrer Stefano Gervasoni, Michelle Agnes Magalhaes, Oscar Jockel, Federico Gardella, Yukiko Watanabe, Ondrej Adamek.
Mentoring
In each residency, I plan to offer dedicated teaching to five local young pianists, free of charge: for the whole month, these young musicians will receive all my attention and any knowledge, advice and encouragement I can offer them.
Education
Throughout my residencies, I will support musical education through concerts, projects, collaborations, activities and seminars with local schools and universities.
Outreach
It doesn’t matter if the audiences are ten people or a thousand: we should play music to every heart that needs to listen. That is why I will be performing also in smaller towns, provincial territories and disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Philanthropy
I believe with all my heart that music is a force of good, and that it speaks the most to souls that are lost, in pain, or abandoned. These people are mostly not in a position to be able to attend regular concerts. Performing and talking to people in hospitals, in jails, in recovery communities, should be a central part in an artist’s life, and it will be in my residencies.
Support
This project is possible thanks to the Franco Buitoni Award, and the support of the institutions hosting me in each city. If you would like to offer financial, logistic, or any other kind of support, please reach out to us. Working together makes a huge difference!