2026
Jun
Jul
Aug
Francesca Leonardi
piano
Francesca Leonardi, piano
"Francesca Leonardi is an excellent pianist and a musician of the highest quality."
(Roger Vignoles)
Pianist Francesca Leonardi made her debut for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label with the complete recording of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas with her regular violin partner of twenty years, Francesca Dego. In October 2018 a new recording from the duo was released worldwide, a project marking a journey through 20th century music inspired by Italy and including world premiere recordings of three works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The following two albums "Il Cannone" and a Mozart project were released for Chandos Records and welcomed with prestigious international press articles. Her recording of the complete Busoni violin and piano repertorie was also released for Chandos in 2024 to celebrate his centenary.
Performing in public from a young age, pianist Francesca Leonardi regularly appears in prestigious venues and festivals around the world. In 2015 she was a part of the Remembrance Day performance in the Santa Cecilia Hall of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, broadcast worldwide by RAI Television. Other distinguished performances include Sala Verdi and Teatro dal Verme in Milan, Royal Albert Hall in London, “Les Flâneries Musicales” Festival in Reims, “Accademia Chigiana” in Siena, Politeama Theatre in Palermo and MITO Festival. In 2017 she performed a long tour of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside the Budapest MAV Orchestra, Laura Bortolotto and Amedeo Cicchese. The live recording of one of the performances was published as a supplement to the music magazine “Amadeus” in August 2018. In Summer 2019 Francesca completed a US tour that also included a performance at the prestigious Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Current season highlights will include recitails in Italy, UK and Dubai Opera House.
From her earliest years Francesca has earned distinction in many national and international competitions, winning 14 first prizes, and in 2011, she was awarded the Phoebe Benham Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music. She gave her solo début aged 16 performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major with the Rosetum Orchestra and has since been invited to join many Italian and international orchestras as a soloist. She has toured Japan, China, the US, and South America, where she performed at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, for the “Semana musical Llao Llao” in Bariloche, and Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremony of the Football World Cup in 2014, on a number of occasions. Francesca is actively involved in the field of chamber music performance and regularly performs with instrumentalists and singers such as Bruno Giuranna, Laura Marzadori, Francesca Bonaita, Sonig Tchakerian, Susanne Hou, Nigel Clayton, Jacopo di Tonno, Martin Owen, Alfredo Zamarra, Andrea Giuffredi and Andrea Oliva.
Among the others, her most recently inaugurated project is the Lumia Trio, with violinist Germana Porcu and cellist Matilda Colliard, in order to explore the diverse repertorie for this iconic chamber music formation. The Trio's maiden voyage and debut is a video recording of Haydn's “Gipsy Trio”, and Casella's “Siciliana e Burlesca”.
Francesca has performed in many live broadcasts on RAI Radio and TV, Tv2000, Radio Classica, the Italian Swiss Radio, the Vatican Radio and selections from her CDs were included in the soundtrack of the 2008 film “The beautiful Truth” by prize-winning director Steven Kroschel.
Born in Milan in 1984, Francesca began studying the piano at the age of three under the guidance of Graziella Bianchi and Paolo Bordoni. She graduated from the Milan Conservatoire in 2004 with top marks, cum laude, and special mention. She continued her studies at the Chigiana Academy in Siena and at the Royal College of Music in London where she was awarded both a Master’s in Performance and an Artist Diploma in Piano Accompaniment with Distinction in 2012, under Nigel Clayton and Roger Vignoles, and generously supported by The Gordon Calway Stone Memorial Award.
From a very early age Francesca showed enthusiasm for teaching and following this passion has become a chamber music teacher at the “G. Verdi” Conservatoire in Milan.
"Francesca Leonardi is an excellent pianist and a musician of the highest quality."
(Roger Vignoles)
Pianist Francesca Leonardi made her debut for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label with the complete recording of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas with her regular violin partner of twenty years, Francesca Dego. In October 2018 a new recording from the duo was released worldwide, a project marking a journey through 20th century music inspired by Italy and including world premiere recordings of three works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The following two albums "Il Cannone" and a Mozart project were released for Chandos Records and welcomed with prestigious international press articles. Her recording of the complete Busoni violin and piano repertorie was also released for Chandos in 2024 to celebrate his centenary.
Performing in public from a young age, pianist Francesca Leonardi regularly appears in prestigious venues and festivals around the world. In 2015 she was a part of the Remembrance Day performance in the Santa Cecilia Hall of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, broadcast worldwide by RAI Television. Other distinguished performances include Sala Verdi and Teatro dal Verme in Milan, Royal Albert Hall in London, “Les Flâneries Musicales” Festival in Reims, “Accademia Chigiana” in Siena, Politeama Theatre in Palermo and MITO Festival. In 2017 she performed a long tour of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside the Budapest MAV Orchestra, Laura Bortolotto and Amedeo Cicchese. The live recording of one of the performances was published as a supplement to the music magazine “Amadeus” in August 2018. In Summer 2019 Francesca completed a US tour that also included a performance at the prestigious Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Current season highlights will include recitails in Italy, UK and Dubai Opera House.
From her earliest years Francesca has earned distinction in many national and international competitions, winning 14 first prizes, and in 2011, she was awarded the Phoebe Benham Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music. She gave her solo début aged 16 performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major with the Rosetum Orchestra and has since been invited to join many Italian and international orchestras as a soloist. She has toured Japan, China, the US, and South America, where she performed at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, for the “Semana musical Llao Llao” in Bariloche, and Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremony of the Football World Cup in 2014, on a number of occasions. Francesca is actively involved in the field of chamber music performance and regularly performs with instrumentalists and singers such as Bruno Giuranna, Laura Marzadori, Francesca Bonaita, Sonig Tchakerian, Susanne Hou, Nigel Clayton, Jacopo di Tonno, Martin Owen, Alfredo Zamarra, Andrea Giuffredi and Andrea Oliva.
Among the others, her most recently inaugurated project is the Lumia Trio, with violinist Germana Porcu and cellist Matilda Colliard, in order to explore the diverse repertorie for this iconic chamber music formation. The Trio's maiden voyage and debut is a video recording of Haydn's “Gipsy Trio”, and Casella's “Siciliana e Burlesca”.
Francesca has performed in many live broadcasts on RAI Radio and TV, Tv2000, Radio Classica, the Italian Swiss Radio, the Vatican Radio and selections from her CDs were included in the soundtrack of the 2008 film “The beautiful Truth” by prize-winning director Steven Kroschel.
Born in Milan in 1984, Francesca began studying the piano at the age of three under the guidance of Graziella Bianchi and Paolo Bordoni. She graduated from the Milan Conservatoire in 2004 with top marks, cum laude, and special mention. She continued her studies at the Chigiana Academy in Siena and at the Royal College of Music in London where she was awarded both a Master’s in Performance and an Artist Diploma in Piano Accompaniment with Distinction in 2012, under Nigel Clayton and Roger Vignoles, and generously supported by The Gordon Calway Stone Memorial Award.
From a very early age Francesca showed enthusiasm for teaching and following this passion has become a chamber music teacher at the “G. Verdi” Conservatoire in Milan.
