Lorenzo Meo

BIO:

Lorenzo Meo is an Italian pianist and composer, currently living in Zurich, Switzerland. His ability to captivate audiences with intensity of playing, passionate advocacy of contemporary music and his significant talent has made him into one of the finest new music pianists of his generation.

He made his debut concerto appearances performing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto and Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.491 in 2002. Since then Lorenzo has made several significant appearances, performing with ensembles such as the Milano Classica Orchestra, the Orchestra of Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Chioggia Symphony Orchestra, the Bologna Conservatory Orchestra and the Zarlino Orchestra in prestigious Italian venues such as the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Teatro delle Muse in Ancona, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Comunale in Modena, Teatro Comunale in Ferrara, Teatro Flavio Vespasiano in Rieti, Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi in Cremona, Teatro della Fortuna di Fano, Auditorium del Carmine in Parma, Fairmount Auditorium in Kiev, Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kiev, Plivka Dovzhenko Center in Kiev, National Philarmonic in Lviv.

Actively engaged in the performance of contemporary music, Lorenzo regularly premieres works written expressly for and dedicated to him. As a particularly renowned interpreter of Estonian composer Jaan Rääts, he recorded his piano works for the albums “Boundaries” (2005) and “The E.P.M. Project” (2009). As a renowned contemporary music interpreter, he was invited to perform in the closing concert event for the New Music Festival at the International Art Arsenal in Kiev in 2012, playing the piano music of Jaan Rääts and Erkki-Sven Tüür. In 2015 he performed at Lviv National Philarmonic with a program entirely dedicated to new music for piano solo. In 2016 he performed the Italian premiere of Concert for Piano and Orchestra No.2 Op.70 and No.3 Op.83 by Jaan Rääts. His discography includes, beside the previously mentioned compositions of Jaan Rääts, recordings of works by Hilding Rosenberg, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Arnold Schoenberg, and Toru Takemitsu, alongside several recordings of works of 21st Century Composers.

As a chamber musician he performed with various ensembles and interpreters. From 2000 to 2005, he played in an acclaimed duo with violist Antonello Farulli. His activity with electroacoustic composer Luigi Pizzaleo has been of particular interest, ranging over a wide variety of productions for piano and live electronics, from 20th Century repertoire to improvisation and multimedia projects. Since 2014, Lorenzo Meo has been collaborating as a duo with Ukrainian violinist Anastasiya Petryshak, performing a wide range of repertoire.

Beside his career as a performer, Lorenzo is also active as a composer of chamber and orchestral works, electroacoustic, acousmatic and theatre music. His works are currently performed in Italy and abroad in several notable festivals and concert venues, including the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano, Teatro Comunale di Bologna (International Competition “2 Agosto”, Bologna), Sala Verdi (Milan Conservatoire), Teatro Nuovo (Repubblica di S. Marino), Teatro Duse (Bologna), Strumenti e Musica del Presente (Auditorium Varrone, Rieti), Giornate del Contemporaneo (MUSMA, Matera), Rieti Elettroacustica (Teatro Flavio Vespasiano, Rieti), Viva 21st Century (Princeton University, NJ - USA), Journées Numériques (Cité de la musique et de la danse, Strasbourg - FR), London New Wind Festival (Regent Hall, London – UK).

Lorenzo Meo graduated from the Conservatoire “G.B. Martini” in Bologna with a degree in piano, studying with Maria Grazia Noferini Babini who was a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He has attended masterclasses as both a soloist and chamber musician at several important musical institutions in Italy, including the “Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia” in Rome, the “Accademia Musicale Pescarese” and the “Accademia Clodiense”, studying closely with interpreters like Aldo Ciccolini, Boris Bekhterev, Paolo Bordoni, Konstantin Bogino. A prizewinner of several international piano competitions, he also received a Master's Degree in chamber music at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome with Rocco Filippini.

PRESS:

“Despite its dense schedule, the Night of Book Arsenal will be remembered primarily for the virtuoso piano performance of Lorenzo Meo.”
-Katya Krolevska, Poltavshchyna magazine

“Lorenzo Meo has recently recorded Rääts’ brilliant Sonata along with the cycle of his 24 piano marginalia, and so gave music reviewers yet another reason to call Estonia a phenomenon.”
-Maria Khrapachova, Capital Magazine

“Italian pianist Lorenzo Meo plays both [Rääts' Sonata and 24 Marginalias]. His performance is notable for its energy and loose-limbed athleticism. The sound is clean and vibrant with a good sense of presence.”
-Stephen Eddins, AllMusic magazine

“He sometimes plays all Estonian music recitals, but solid monographic evenings of other important 20th century figures are on his plate too: only Schoenberg, or only John Adams, or only Takemitsu (please mind that Meo's multipage repertoire starts with Bach!).”
-Maria Khrapachova, Capital Magazine

Jaan Rääts, born in 1932, offers yet further evidence that Estonia must be one of the most compositionally fertile places in the world, turning out a disproportionate number of important or at least intriguing composers for such a small country, including Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Erkki-Sven Tüür,Toivo Tulev, Helena Tulve, and Lepo Sumera. Rääts' harmonic and gestural language in the two works for two pianos recorded here is related to American minimalism and post-minimalism, essentially but not rigidly tonal, with the use of repeated patterns. The music is immediately appealing, accessible without being simplistic. Marginalia lasts just half an hour, but includes 24 pieces, one in each of the major and minor keys. The movements are like bagatelles, each well developed and with a strongly distinctive character, and their brevity keeps them from wearing out their welcome. Rääts' Sonata for two pianos is idiomatically similar to Marginalia, but uses a more complex tonal scheme, and the form gives the material the time to unfold and develop at a more leisurely pace. Italian pianist Lorenzo Meo plays both piano parts. His performance is notable for its energy and loose-limbed athleticism. The sound is clean and vibrant with a good sense of presence. The album should appeal to fans of the late minimalist sound of composers like John Adams and Louis Andriessen.
-Stephen Eddins, AllMusic magazine

MORE INFORMATION: