Marco Mantovani, a piano magician, comes to Fripp Island

Do you remember the Mantovani Orchestra playing “Some Enchanted Evening?” Magical, don’t you agree?

Well, pianist Marco Mantovani may as well be related to the conductor Annunzio Mantovani. He shares that captivating name and he plays the piano with that magical Mantovani touch.

Ask Marco Mantovani when you come to Fripp Island at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23 for his concert whether Annunzio and he are family members. It will be an enchanting evening.

Marco Mantovani was born just barely three decades ago in Mantova, Italy. He received his musical training in various European schools: in Lucio Campiani, the conservatory of music in Mantova, the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence. Needless to say, Marco graduated with honors from both.

In 2017, he earned his Master in Piano Performance with the highest distinction at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels and received the Ingeborg Köberle Award for being that “year’s most promising student.” He is currently pursuing his Ph.D there, his project being the interpretation of Schuman’s piano works composed between 1836 and 1838.

Fundamental for Marco’s artistic development have been famous mentors. One is the great Portuguese pianist Maria Jõao Pires, who founded the Chorale Hesperos, a choir for underprivileged children for which Marco serves as the accompanying pianist.

Another is his teacher Aleksandar Madzar who said that Marco “is one of the most wonderful and complete talents I encountered in recent years. His musicianship is really of the finest kind. All parameters of the most complex repertoire are perfectly mastered, and there seem to be very few limits to what he can do, whether artistically, or instrumentally …”

Marco’s repertoire ranges from Bach to contemporary music. He has played solo, but sometimes also with orchestras or with violinists like Carola Zosi, in famous concert halls all over Italy and in numerous other European countries such as Austria, Belgium, and Germany.

This concert is sponsored by the Fripp Island Friends of Music and the S.C. Arts Commission, and it helps sustain the FIFOM’s Music-in-the Schools Program. See our website frippfriendsofmusic.com.