Pietro Scarpini

Pietro Scarpini (born April 6, 1911 in Rome , † November 27, 1997 in Florence ) was an Italian pianist , composer and music teacher .

Scarpini studied piano with Alfredo Casella , composition with Ottorino Respighi , conducting with Alessandro Bustini and organ with Fernando Germani at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia . He made his debut as a pianist in 1936, and in 1938 he appeared in Budapest, Berlin and Lübeck. He worked with Paul Hindemith in the 1930s . He also became friends with Luigi Dallapiccola . His international career was interrupted by the Second World War.

At the Salzburg Festival in 1948 he performed Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire as a conductor and pianist and then traveled with this performance through numerous cities in Europe. Also in 1948 he played Schoenberg's piano concertos under Franz Andrés direction. With performances of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni and Sergei Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto (1950), he became an important interpreter of contemporary music.

On the mediation of Dimitri Mitropoulos , Scarpini traveled to New York in 1954. He performed Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Mitropoulos' direction . The following year he played Mozart's E major concerto in New York - also with Mitropoulos - and then had engagements in Montreal, Toronto, Baltimore and Dallas.

In 1957 Scarpini performed Roger Sessions ' piano concerto in Germany and Italy , and a performance of Roberto Gerhard's concerto for harpsichord, strings and percussion failed due to health problems Scarpini suffered from diabetes. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he played Bach's Art of Fugue at universities in Italy, and in 1960 at York Festival his Well-Tempered Clavier . At the International Festival for Contemporary Music in Venice he gave a concert with works by Alexander Scriabin . On Busoni's 100th birthday in 1966, he performed the Cleveland Orchestra's piano concerto under the direction of George Szell .

The Fulbright Foundation has been awarding American pianists scholarships to study with Scarpini in Florence since the early 1950s . He also taught in Siena and Darmstadt. After retiring from the concert stage in the late 1960s, he continued to give master classes.

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personal data
SURNAME	Scarpini, Pietro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian pianist, composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH	April 6, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rome
DATE OF DEATH	November 27, 1997
Place of death	Florence