Featured Artists of the
Chamber Music Society
of Fort Worth

Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Piano

Praised as a "pianistic messiah," (Fort Worth Star Telegram), Antonio Pompa-Baldi emerged from the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with a coveted silver medal as well as the Phyllis Jones Tilley Memorial Award for the Best Performance of a New Work. First-prize winner at the 1999 Cleveland Competition and a top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition, Mr. Pompa-Baldi has toured extensively in the United States and Europe . He has brought his assured touch on the keyboard to some of the world's major concert venues including Cleveland's Severance Hall, Milan's Sala Verdi, Naples' Teatro Diana, New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and Paris' Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, Salle Pleyel, Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Théâtre du Châtelet, performing more than 70 engagements per season.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi's 2003-04 season culminated with a highly acclaimed recital at Carnegie Hall's recently inaugurated Zankel Hall, and included orchestral appearances with the Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Kansas City Symphony, Cleveland Pops, National Orchestra of Santo Domingo, Peoria Symphony, Symphony of the Americas (Ft. Lauderdale) and Canton Symphony. The 03-04 season also featured more than fifty recitals including Chicago, IL, Portland, OR and Sacramento, CA.

In recent seasons, Antonio Pompa-Baldi has collaborated with such leading conductors as Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keith Lockhart, Daniel Hege, Louis Lane, Pascal Rophe', and others, appearing with the Fort Worth Symphony, Boston Pops, Syracuse Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Savannah Symphony, Southwest Florida Symphony, Spokane Symphony as well as the Orchestre Philarmonique de Metz (France), Orchestre National de Paris-Radio France and the Symphony Orchestra of Sicily (Italy). His recent recital engagements include Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet), Bologna, Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Hartford, Miami and San Juan.

As passionate a chamber musician as he is a recitalist and orchestral soloist, Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a frequent guest at numerous chamber music festivals including Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Music In The Mountains Festival (Durango, (CO), and the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society among others, collaborating with such ensembles as the Avalon String Quartet, the Takacs String Quartet, and distinguished colleagues including Elmar Oliveira.

Summer 2004 is marked by Mr. Pompa-Baldi's Houston Symphony debut with Hans Graf as well as his first appearance in Tokyo, Japan where he will perform as soloist with the Berliner Symphoniker. In 2004-05, he looks forward to his first collaborations with the Rochester Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony and Toledo Symphony, conducted by Christopher Seaman, Fabio Mechetti and Stefan Sanderling, respectively, as well as appearances with the Columbus Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Abilene Philharmonic, Tupelo Symphony and Evansville Philharmonic. Among other highlights of the season, Mr. Pompa-Baldi will make his South Korean debut with a recital tour and play recitals in Fort Worth (Cliburn Series), and Houston (Texas Music Festival).

Mr. Pompa-Baldi has been seen and heard many times on French National Television Antenne 2 and Radio-France, Cleveland's WCLV, Boston's WGBH, and National Public Radio's "Performance Today", and appeared in the PBS documentary on the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition "Playing on the Edge" which premiered in October 2001 in USA and Canada.

Mr. Pompa-Baldi appeared again on PBS in the documentary "Concerto", featuring his performance of Prokofiev's Concerto #3 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon. This performance was also seen on French National Television in May, 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Prokofiev's death.

In addition to the recording of his Cliburn Competition performances on the Harmonia Mundi label, he has also recorded an all-Brahms disc for Azica, and the Rheinberger piano sonatas for Centaur Records. His next recordings, featuring music of Edward Grieg, will soon be released by Centaur Records.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi, the first appointed Steinway Artist marking Steinway's 150th anniversary, serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He teaches frequent master classes around the world and at summer festivals including PianoFest in the Hamptons, TCU-Cliburn Institute and Southeastern Piano Festival (University of South Carolina School of Music).

For more information, simply email us at info@chambermusicsocietyoffortworth.com.