Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Cleveland Institute of Music
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi won the Cleveland
International Piano Competition in 1999 and embarked on a multifaceted 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.
Pompa-Baldi studied with two important exponents of the great Neapolitan School:
Annamaria Pennella, and Aldo Ciccolini. He also received guidance in masterclass
settings from Paul Badura Skoda and Jörg Demus, among others.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s
Carnegie Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Boston’s Symphony
Hall, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Paris’ Salle Pleyel, to name a few. He has
collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, Krzysztof Urbánski,
James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Theodore Kuchar, Benjamin Zander, Louis
Lane, and Keith Lockhart. He has performed with ensembles and colleagues such
as Takacs String Quartet, trumpeter Alison Balsom, cellist Sharon Robinson,
violinists Ivan Zenaty and Ilya Kaler, and principals of the Cleveland Orchestra,
Dallas Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Juilliard Quartet, among others.
With a concerto repertoire including more than 60 works, Mr. Pompa-Baldi recently
performed cycles of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos, the five Beethoven Piano
Concertos, and both Brahms Concertos with various orchestras. He has played
recitals in most major venues over the world. In 2019, he was a returning guest at
the third edition of the Lang Lang International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China,
continued his honorary guest professorship at the Beijing China Conservatory, and
was named honorary professor at the Shenyang Conservatory of Music.
Among the stops on his tours, he performed in Vienna (Austria), London (UK),
Paris (France), New York (USA), Auckland (New Zealand), Jerusalem (Israel),
Kiev (Ukraine), Cape Town (South Africa), and throughout China (Beijing,
Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou), as well as in Poland, Germany, Mexico,
Canada, Spain, and many other places around the globe.
Mr. Pompa-Baldi has recorded well over 30 CDs to date, for various labels including
Centaur Records, Harmonia Mundi, Steinway, TwoPianists, Azica, and Brilliant
Classics. Among them, the complete piano and chamber music works of Grieg, the
Josef Rheinberger Piano Sonatas, the complete Hummel Piano Sonatas, and CDs
dedicated to Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Respighi, and Rachmaninoff.
For the Steinway label, Pompa-Baldi recorded songs by Francis Poulenc and Edith
Piaf, arranged for solo piano, as well as a CD titled “Napoli”, which features new
piano versions of famous Neapolitan songs, elaborated by Roberto Piana. Among
his latest releases are his transcription for solo piano of the Respighi B minor Violin Sonata, and Suites by Debussy, Luca Moscardi and Barber for piano duo. Recorded with his wife, pianist Emanuela Friscioni, this latest album was published with the title
“Suite Nothings” by the Steinway label.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist since 2003. He is also a Steinway
Recording Artist, as well as one of the most prominently featured artists in the Spirio
recording catalogue. He is often invited to judge international piano competitions
such as the Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Competition (Minneapolis), BNDES Rio de
Janeiro, Chopin USA (Miami) and Edward Grieg (Bergen), among many others. He
serves as president of the jury and artistic advisor for the San Jose International
Piano Competition since 2005.
Pompa-Baldi is on the Piano Faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he
also serves as Head of the Piano Department. His students have been
prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head,
Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer. He is regularly invited to teach masterclasses in
countless Universities, Music Schools, and Festivals in the US and all over the
world.
In 2015, Pompa-Baldi founded the Todi International Music Masters festival, of
which he is also Artistic Director and Faculty Member. This summer festival takes
place every August in the beautiful Italian town of Todi. It features 15 concerts in 15
days, with internationally renown faculty members, and students from all over the
world.
Antonio Pompa-Baldi serves as Vice Director for Education for the Lang Lang Art
World organization in Hangzhou, China, and is on the advisory board of the Lang
Lang International Music Foundation of New York.
