Antonio Pompa-Baldi - Concert Pianist
Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi first came to the U.S. in 1999 to participate in the Cleveland International Piano Competition. He won the First Prize, and embarked on a career that continues to extend across five continents. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition of Paris, France, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as well as the Award for the Best Performance of a New Work.
He has collaborated with leading conductors including Hans Graf, James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Keith Lockhart, Christopher Seaman, Louis Lane, Pascal Rophé, Grant Llewellyn, and Stefan Sanderling, performing with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Boston Pops, Orchestre National de Paris-Radio France, National Orchestra of Ukraine, National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, Orchestra of Tuscany (Italy), Fort Worth Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, among many others.
A passionate chamber musician, Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a frequent guest at events like the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Music in the Mountains Festival (Durango, CO), Strings in the mountains (Steambot Springs, CO), and the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society Series among others, collaborating with such ensembles as the Takacs and Cavani String Quartets, as well as principals of leading orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphonies. Among upcoming orchestral engagements, Mr. Pompa-Baldi will perform with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic and Maestro Jose Antonio Molina, the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra under Maestro Philippe Entremont, the Johannesburg and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras in South Africa, the West Virginia Symphony, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Williamsburg Symphonia. Recital engagements include Nancy (France), Fort Worth (TX), Cleveland (OH), San Francisco (Liszt Society Festival), Eugene (OR), Hong Kong, Guanzhou (Cina), as well as a tour of South Africa. Masterclasses in Tokyo are scheduled for October 2012. Mr. Pompa-Baldi has been seen and heard many times on French National Television, Radio-France, Ukrainian National Television, Cleveland's WCLV, Boston's WGBH, and National Public Radio's "Performance Today". He was featured 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: A sense of Self", featuring his performance of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto 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, as well as throughout Europe. Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a Steinway Artist. He serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and gives master-classes around the world, both in conjunction with his performing engagements, and at summer festivals including Piano Fest in the Hamptons, TCU-Cliburn Institute, Southeastern Piano Festival (University of South Carolina School of Music), Paisiello Academy (Lucera, Italy), Amalfi Coast Festival, and Napolinova Academy (Naples, Italy). He helped found the Academia Manuel Rueda in Santo Domingo, where he also gives regular masterclasses. Mr. Pompa-Baldi is often invited to judge international piano competitions, and has served as president of the jury for the International Russian Piano Music Competition in San Jose, CA since 2006. His students have been prizewinners in important competitions such as Marguerite Long, Hilton Head, Isang Yun, and Gina Bachauer. Mr. Pompa-Baldi maintains an active social media profile, and invites his audience to interact with him and like his page: www.facebook.com/pompabaldipiano