IGOR COGNOLATO (Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, Italy)
29 October @10.00-13.00 & 14.00-16.00 in the Great Hall
Igor Cognolato started his musical training with Ida Longhino at the age of five; at age nineteen he obtained his Diploma magna cum laude in Piano Performance at Conservatorio “Benedetto Marcello” in Venice (piano) under Vincenzo Pertile (a former student by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli), and three years later in choir conducting at Conservatorio “Felice Evaristo dall’Abaco” in Verona. He pursued his musical education at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater Hannover, Germany, with the Concert Examination Diploma of Music in piano performance under Brazilian pianist Roberto Szidon (former student by Felicja Blumental, Arthur Rubinstein and Claudio Arrau). Igor Cognolato’s debut followed with NDR Symphony Orchestra with Franz Liszt’s Concerto No 2 live recorded and broadcasted. Among his teachers for composition and piano are Ugo Amendola, Michele Marvulli, Dario De Rosa (Trio di Trieste’s pianist), Aldo Ciccolini and Paul Badura-Skoda.
Igor Cognolato has performed through all over Western Europe and the USA, with resounding success: soloist with numerous orchestras (Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Sofia chamber Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra del Gran Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Tallinn chamber Orchestra and others), he recorded for RAI, RAI Eurovision, NDR Radio, and for Norwegian National Radio, as well as CD for Simax, Blue Serge and Rivoalto or other labels from France and Italy.
Since 2009 he regularly performs together with Athenaeum Berlin Philharmonic String Quartet: they took part in Aix-en-Provence chamber music festival and their performance of Schumann Pianoquintet op 44 was broadcasted live for ARTE TV. His activity as chamber music partner takes him playing with dozens of musicians (string and woodwind players or singers) from all over Europe.
In May 2016 he gave a successful debut at the Berliner Philharmonie with Milan Svoboda’s Concerto Grosso, for the Berliner Philharmonic official concert series.
Igor Cognolato is currently Professor of Piano Performance at Conservatorio “Benedetto Marcello” in Venice (Italy), after a period of eleven years spent as piano Professor at University of music “Giuseppe Tartini” in Trieste (Italy), in addition to a period of several years (from 1997 to 2001) spent as Professor at Italian Universities of music in Cagliari “Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina” and Rovigo “Francesco Venezze”.
He has been invited to give master classes at many European universities, including but not limited to Kunstuniversität Graz, Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), Hochschule für Musik und Theater Lübeck, Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater Dresden (Germany), Trinity Laban College in London (UK), Conservatorio superior de musica Salvator Seguì de Castellò (Spain), Estonian Academy of music and Theatre, Rumanian national Academy of Bucarest (Rumania). He is regularly invited to hold masterclasses also by private institutions such as Carithian Music Academy in Austria.
Since 1995, Cognolato served as president and artistic director of cultural association “Amici della musica di Treviso”. Since 2017, he has also been Vice President of the Richard Wagner Verband in Venice.
In 2013 he performed as lead actor in the documentary film “Richard Wagner. Diario veneziano della sinfonia ritrovata” by Gianni Di Capua, presented in the same year at “70° International Mostra del cinema di Venezia” as well as at Bayreuther Festspiele, and at the Library of Congress in Washington DC (USA).
Starting from 2019 Igor Cognolato contributes the scientific board of Beethoven Sources, a catalogue raisonné of Beethoven’s autographs, first editions and other original sources.