Massimo Somenzi studied piano with Maria Italia Biagi and received his degree at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice with special honors. He won the Mazza Prize as Outstanding Student of the Conservatory’s School of Piano Performance. He has studied chamber music with Sergio Lorenzi, Franco Rossi, Antonio Janigro and attended courses at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the Association Musicale de Paris. In Italy, Somenzi took first place in the National Piano Competitions at Osimo in 1969 and 1976, at La Spezia in 1970 and 1974, at Pescara in 1978 and at Cesena, also in 1978. In 1984 he took first place in the National Cilea Chamber Ensemble Competition at Palmi, second place at the International City of Florence Vittorio Gui Prize Competition and first place again at the International City of Trapani Chamber Music Competition. In 1985, he was unanimously awarded first prize with special honors at the City of Vittorio Veneto Special Competition for Piano Duo. Somenzi’s extensive concert activity includes appearances with orchestra and with chamber music ensembles all over the world. Beginning in 1980, he performed widely with the cellist Mario Brunello and, since 1990, has performed piano duos with recording partner Emanuela Bellio. His recordings include the complete piano works for four hands of Dvorak as well as Brahms (both recorded with Bellio); a live recital performance with Stefano Canuti of pieces for bas­soon and piano; the violin and piano sonatas of Franck, Ravel, and Debussy, performed with Domenico Nordio; the cello and piano sonatas of Grieg and Richard Strauss, performed with Mario Brunello; and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, recorded with Asolo’s Reale Corte Armonica, and forthcoming from Sony Germany. From 1991 through 2003, Somenzi served in Castelfranco Veneto as director of the Agostino Steffani Conservatory of Music. In late 2003, he returned to the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice as a professor of piano performance. He is frequently sought as a juror for Italy’s most prestigious piano competitions, and gives masterclasses in piano performance and chamber music throughout Italy and abroad. Somenzi began 2005 in a concert tour of the United States with the American pianist Gustavo Romero, performing Mozart’s complete works for four hands and two pianos in California, Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, and Texas. Also in 2005, for the Galuppi Festival in Venice, he will bring to completion his performance of all of the piano sonatas of Mozart.

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