Francesca Leonardi & Francesca Dego
Biographie Francesca Leonardi & Francesca Dego
Francesca Leonardi
(born 1989 in Lecco, Italy) has established herself as one of the best young violinists on the international musical scene. Recently signed by Deutsche Grammophon, her debut album with the 24 Paganini Caprices recorded on the ex-Ricci Guarneri del Gesù was released in October 2012 and received high critical acclaim. She is now recording the complete Beethoven violin sonatas, the final volume to be released in Fall 2015. She is also featured guest artist in Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo's album 'Ave Maria' released by Sony Classical.
She is a winner of numerous national and international competitions. In 2008 she was the first Italian female violinist since 1961 to reach the final of the renowned “Paganini Competition” in Genoa and she won the “Enrico Costa” prize for having been the youngest finalist.
Francesca made her debut as soloist at the age of 7 in California with a Bach concerto, in Italy at 14 with Beethoven Concerto and at 15 with Brahms concerto in Milan conducted by György Györiványi Ráth and Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante at the Tel Aviv Opera House with Shlomo Mintz. Since then she performs regularly with major orchestras including the Milan Symphony, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the Chamber Orchestra of La Scala, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra, the Teatro Colon Orchestra of Buenos Aires, “Arturo Toscanini” Symphony Orchestra, Arena di Verona Orchestra, the Soloists of the Rostov State Theatre, Leeds' Opera North Symphony Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta, Trento “Haydn” Orchestra, Turin Philharmonic, “I Pomeriggi Musicali”, the Bologna, Trieste, Genova and Bari Theater Orchestras and the Orchestra della Toscana (ORT) alongside great soloists and conductors such as Salvatore Accardo, Christopher Hogwood, Bruno Giuranna, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Julian Kovatchev, Wayne Marshall, Diego Matheuz, Antonio Meneses, Domenico Nordio, Donato Renzetti, Daniele Rustioni, Yoel Levi, Jan Lisiecki, Peter Stark and Xian Zhang.
She regularly appears in prestigious venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall and St. Petersburg's Philharmonic, Shanghai's Oriental Arts Center and Beijing's NCPA, Bruxelles and Geneva, “Les Flâneries Musicales” festival in Reims and 'Generation Virtuoses' festival in Antibes, in Lebanon at the Al Bustan festival and in Perù for Lima's Sociedad Filarmonica.
She performed as soloist at the Concerts for Life and Peace in Bethlehem and Jerusalem with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana under Nicola Paszkowski and at the 2014 and 2015 Remembrance Day Concerts in Rome, broadcast worldwide by RAI. In June 2014 she was invited to open the Football World Cup in Brazil performing at Rio De Janeiro's Theatro Municipal.
Recent and upcoming highlights include debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Oviedo Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Kyushu Symphony, the Armenian Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Fresno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Thailand Philharmonic and the Philharmonique du Liban.
Her live recording of the Beethoven concerto at 14 years old comprised a large part of the sound track of the documentary “The Gerson Miracle”, winner of the Golden Palm at the 2004 Beverly Hills Film Festival and selections from her CDs have been included in the sound track of the 2008 film by prize-winning director Steve Kroschel “The Beautiful Truth”.
Francesca plays a precious Francesco Ruggeri violin (Cremona 1697) and the ex- Ricci Guarneri del Gesù (Cremona 1734) courtesy of Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.
