139. Chantal Balestri, piano

Sunday, November 24th, 2024 @2pm

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139.

Salon Concerts at Klavierhaus
Jed Distler, artistic director

presents

Chantal Balestri, piano

Sunday, November 24th, 2024 @2pm

Live at Klavierhaus
790 11th Avenue
New York, NY 10019

$20 suggested donation

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Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat Major, BWV 876

Paolo Marchettini
Prelude and Fugue VII in E-Flat Major (2021)
Prelude IX in A-Flat Major (2021)

Joseph Haydn
Sonata in A-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:46
i. Allegro Moderato
ii. Adagio
iii. Finale - Presto

Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata in E Major, Op. 109
i. Vivace, ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo
ii. Prestissimo
iii. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung: Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

Johannes Brahms
Klavierstücke, Op. 118
i. Intermezzo: Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato
ii. Intermezzo: Andante teneramente

Franz Liszt
Rhapsodie espagnole, S. 254

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Praised for her “confidence and sound technique” (South Florida Classical Review), Italian/Swiss pianist Chantal Balestri is a versatile classical musician active worldwide, maintaining a performing and academic career in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.

After her debut as a soloist with orchestra at age 13, she has concertized worldwide as soloist with orchestra, including her recent performances with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Chamber Orchestra (Belgium), Orquestra Sinfonica de Michoacan (Mexico) with conductors Toufic Maatouk, Michael Guttman and Roman Revueltas Retes. She also performed at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall (Weill and Stern), DiMenna Center, Greenfield Hall (New York, USA), Miniaci Performing Art Center (Miami, USA), Wiener Saal (Austria), Sala Piatti (Bergamo, Italy), Sala Stradivari (Cremona, Italy), Harbin Concert Hall (China), Kaisersaal der Historisches Kaufhaus (Freiburg, Germany), Auditorium de La Lonja (Orihuela, Spain), Auditorium De Universidade (Aveiro, Portugal) just to mention some.

Her repertoire includes a wide range of styles, from Baroque to contemporary eras. She has presented premeries, including Massimo Giuntoli's "Piano store" commissioned by Yamaha Piano Europe. She has performed in important contemporary music Festivals, including “Composers Now Festival” in New York City and the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs (NY). She has collaborated with renowned composers, such as Barbara Jazwinski, Gilead Mishory, Annie Gosfield, Roberto Piana, Paolo Marchettini, Andrea Talmelli, David Winkler. In 2008, she was invited to perform pieces by Rodion Shchedrin by the composer itself at the Sala Piatti in Bergamo (Italy).

Since the age of 7, she was the prize winner of 12 national and international competitions, including the first prize at “Coppa Pianisti d’Italia” in 2004, and most recently the NYU Piano Concerto Competition and the Miami Piano Festival.

Active chamber music performer, Chantal has collaborated both with instrumentalists and singers, in ensembles from duo to septimino, with members of the in Metropolitan Opera, the Juilliard School, Conservatorio del Liceu of Madrid, Trinity Laban of London, only to mention some. In details, these are some of the collaborators: tenor Francesco Anile, violinists Evgenia Ephstein and Leonardo Moretti, cellists Vittorio Ceccanti, Luca De Muro, Gabriel Mientka, Marco Demaria and Alejandro Pedrenas, flutist Giorgio Consolati, clarinetist Gaia Gaibazzi, violists Paul Cortese, Eleonora De Poi, Sheila Browne, and Nardo Poy, pianists Stefano Miceli, Gabriele Baldocci, Isabel Perez Dobarro and Francesco Libetta including many other renowned soloists. Further, she has been korrepetiteur for an opera production at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, she studied lieder at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Prof. Mueller, and chamber music at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.

She also performed along with multiple orchestras, including the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, the Garden State Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Americas, the American Modern Orchestra, Symphonyorchester Crescendo. Conductors collaborations includes Felipe Tristan, Alessandro Calcagnile, Ruth Reinhardt, Ward Stare, David Bernard, Felix Mildenberger, Michael Guttman, Toufic Maatouk. She was selected to participate in the 2018 Easter Tourney with the Gustav Mahler Young Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Jurovskij and Lorenzo Viotti in 12 concerts in some of the most known European venues, including the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Musikverein in Vienna. Her performance as orchestral pianist of Bernstein Symphonic Dances and Copland Clarinet Concerto with the Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra has been published by Recursive Classics.

Chantal earns BM an MM degrees with honors at the Lucca Conservatory (Italy) at the age of 18 and 21 and received a MM with honors “for extraordinary achievement” at the New York University, where she studied with Jeffrey Swann. During the academic year 2012-2013, she has studied through the Erasmus program at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany, with Gilead Mishory. She also studied piano solo with Fabio Bidini, Aquiles Delle Vigne and Kostantin Bogino in Italian Music Academies.

She has been invited to perform for Paul Badura-Skoda, Benedetto Lupo, Jura Margulis, Andrei Gavrilov, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Pascal Devoyon, Florian Boffard, Claudio Martinez-Mehner, Ilya Itin in music festivals like MusicAlp Festival (Courchevel, France), International Piano Academy (Freiburg, Germany), the Summer Academy of Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria), Euro Music Festival (Halle, Germany), Miami International Piano Festival, Ferrara Piano Festival.

As an educator, Chantal has been working on it since the academic year 2014/2015. From 2015 to 2017, she worked as Adjunct Faculty member in Piano Studies at the New York University, the she continued working until 2020 as collaborative pianist for the Voice Department, conducting classes and Screen Scoring Department. Further, she has been invited as a Visiting Professor to teach piano, chamber music, and management skills in universities worldwide, including the North Western University (Georgetown, the USA), the Conservatory of Music of Valdivia (Chile), the Piano League (New York), Universidad Michoacana (Mexico), the University of Silesia (Katowize, Poland).

Chantal was also appointed New York President of the World Piano Teachers Association (WPTA) in 2019 until moving back to her country in 2020. Since then, she has been working in her home in various Italian Music Conservatories and Universities to teach piano and music management and on January 2023 she has been appointed as Piano Professor at the Conservatory of Music in Trapani (Sicily).

Since 2018, she is regularly invited as jury member to national and international competitions, including the “Piano Star International Competititon” organized by Piano League in New York City, “The Golden Keys Competition” in New York, “Music Alive International Piano Competition” in Katowize (Polonia), National Competition “Giovani Promesse” in Bergamo.

Chantal really believes in how music and social impact are strongly connected, resulting in participation in many social and educational projects, including AIGU (Italian Youth Association for UNESCO). For her involvement in this thematic, she was selected as a cohort member of the Global Leaders Institute for music leaders worldwide and has been recognized for her work as mentor in the program through a certificate released by the Harvard University (June 2022). She hosted the first International Summit in Italy of the Global Leaders Institute in June 2023.

Chantal is also the Co-Founder of the Lunigiana International Music Festival (since 2018, acting as Artistic Director) and MusiKenya (since 2021, acting as President), both no-profit organizations with a strong mission to impact the local communities and territories by providing high-quality music education and performances.