Aldo Ciccolini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaldo tʃikkoˈlini], 15 August 1925 … Read Full Bio ↴Aldo Ciccolini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaldo tʃikkoˈlini], 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian-French pianist.

Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerara, worked as a typographer. He took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, by special permission of the director, Francesco Cilea. There he studied piano with Paolo Denza, a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni, and harmony and counterpoint with Achille Longo.

He began his performing career playing at the Teatro San Carlo at the age of 16. However, by 1946 he was reduced to playing in bars to support his family. In 1949, he won, ex-aequo (tied) with Ventsislav Yankov, the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (among the other prizewinners were Paul Badura-Skoda and Pierre Barbizet). He became a French citizen in 1969 and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1970 to 1988, where his students included Akiko Ebi, Géry Moutier, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro, Nicholas Angelich, André Sayasov and Jean-Luc Kandyoti. Among his students were also Roberto Cominati, Andrea Padova, Filippo Faes, Francesco Libetta, Domenico Piccichè and Jean-Marc Savelli.

Ciccolini was a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Erik Satie as well as that of less prominent composers such as Déodat de Séverac, Jules Massenet, and Alexis de Castillon. Ciccolini is also known for his playing of the music of the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, as well as of Franz Liszt. The soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf said of him "I have hardly met a more wonderful partner and a more delightful companion."

On 9 December 1999 Ciccolini celebrated a career in France spanning 50 years with a recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Ciccolini died at the age of 89 on 1 February 2015 at his home in Paris.

Recordings

Ciccolini made more than a hundred recordings for EMI-Pathé Marconi and other record companies, including the complete sonata cycles of Mozart and Beethoven, complete solo piano work of Debussy, and two separate cycles of the complete piano works of Satie.

In 2002 Ciccolini was awarded the Diapason d'Or for his recording of the entire solo piano works of Janáček for Abeille Music and of Schumann for Cascavelles. His complete Beethoven sonata cycle was re-published under Cascavelle label in 2006.

He also recorded unusual repertoire such as selections from the Péchés de vieillesse of Rossini.