Caldwell Fine Arts Past Performances

Caldwell Fine Arts presents the Cleveland International Competition Winner, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, in Jewett Auditorium on Tuesday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Select-a-Seat, door, or call 459-3405. Adults are $10-12 and students $8-10.

Caldwell is one of two Idaho communities to book the 1999 Winner of the Cleveland Piano Competition. Antonio was so successful at his August performance at the Sandpoint Music Festival with the Spokane Symphony that he was immediately re-engaged.

The Cleveland Competition is very difficult. The Robert Casadesus Society and the Cleveland Institute of Music founded this competition in 1975 to honor the memory of the great French pianist, Robert Casadesus who had close ties with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. A screening committee reviewed 220 audio tapes and documentation of pianists ages 19-32 from around the world. They invited 61 pianists to perform at the 1999 Cleveland International Competition.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi became the prize winner after four rounds of playing which took place August 8 to August 14. At the end of the first round, only 16 advanced. Every subsequent round reduced the candidates by half. Phillippe Bianconi, a Van Cliburn Silver Medalist, who performed here in 1986, was a winner of the Cleveland Competition in 1981. Other finalists among the many who have had successful careers have included Sergei Babayan, Benedetto Lupo, Neil Rutman, Edward Newman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Angela Hewitt, John Owings and Per Tengstrand of Sweden, the 1997 winner.

Pompa-Baldi will be playing two selections from his finalist rounds: the Mozart Sonata K332 in F major and Suite Bergamasque by Debussy. “Clair de lune,” one of the most beloved piano pieces of all time, is part of this Suite. Other selections include the Chopin-Sonata N. 2 Op. 35 in B Flat minor whose “Funeral March” is very familiar to public. The Scriabin-Sonata No. 4 Op. 30 in F Sharp Major, and the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat minor completes the program. “I think this is a very beautiful, romantic program which will be enjoyed by the general public as well as connoisseurs of the piano,” according to Sylvia Hunt, Caldwell Fine Arts manager.

Antonio, a native of Foggia, Italy, began to play the piano at the age of four. He obtained his diploma from the Conservatorio Ul. Giordano in 1993 at the age of 18 with honours and went on to perfect his knowledge with prominent musicians including Aldo Ciccolini, Paul Badura-Skoda, Bruno Canino, and Jorg Demus. He has been teaching and studying with Annamaria Pennella at the International Academy in L’Aquila, Italy, which she founded.

This year has been very busy with engagements that fulfill his obligations with the Cleveland Competition. On a personal note, he said, “The competition was our first trip to the United States, our honeymoon. I was married just 15 days before the competition. We didn’t speak English at all. At that time we survived with my Spanish and my French. Now Emanuela, who is also a pianist, and I have just moved to Cleveland to be artists in residence at Cuyahoga Community College. We will be playing the Mozart Double Concerto in Severance Hall on March 25th with the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra.”

A school presentation at Caldwell High School Auditorium on Monday at 2:00 p.m. is supported in part by the Whittenberger Foundation. Antonio will play the Dorothy Waggoner Steinway Piano which was purchased with gifts from the community, her former students, and the school district.

Read a review of the concert by Jeanne Skyrm Hayman.

Cleveland International Piano Competition Winner

Antonio Pompa-Baldi

Cleveland International Piano
Competition Winner