Pianist Margherita Santi has distinguished herself through her fierce personality, brilliant virtuosity, and, above all, her original, distinctive attitude and individual approach, with a natural, convincing feel and understanding of music.
Piano
Margherita Santi
Biography
She has internationally performed both as soloist and chamber musician all over Europe, including Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, East Europe and Russia, taking part in numerous festivals and concert seasons in prestigious venues such as Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Yusupov Palace in St.Petersburg, Rachmaninoff Hall and Malij Zaal in Moscow, Zürcher Kammerorchester Haus in Zürich, Teatro Verdi in Florence, Teatro Sociale in Como and Teatro Filarmonico in Verona among others.
She is regularly invited by prestigious institutions such as Serate Musicali. In November 2024, her solo album Fantasies was released by Hänssler Classic, earning outstanding reviews and being praised as showcasing “first-class piano playing.” Since her orchestral debut with the Pazarzik Symphony Orchestra with Rachmaninof’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Margherita has regularly performed with renowned orchestras, including Ort – Orchestra della Toscana, Haydn Orchester, and orchestras active in the educational and social fields, such as Orchestra Senzaspine in Italy, touring several times performing Schumann Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2 and Beethoven Piano Concerto no.4. Margherita is a passionate chamber musician: her profound love towards chamber music allowed her to create a remarkable chamber music repertoire and to perform extensively.
Her passion for chamber music brought to play with well-known and esteemed musicians such as Mikhail Tsinman, concertmaster at the Bolshoi Theater, the pianist Olaf John Laneri, violinist Francesca Dego, the Rimsky Korsakov Quartett, horn player Martin Owen, Moscow Rachmaninoff Trio, cellist Frieder Berthold. In 2020 she performed in the parterre of Teatro la Fenice a chamber music concert featuring two piano quartets by Schumann and Brahms live streamed by Radio Mca. Along her musical journey, she met internationally acclaimed musicians such as Pavel Gililov, Ilana Vered, Gary Graffman, Pascal Nemirovsky and Gustavo Romero, provoking greater attention to her personality, profound devotion, musical comprehension and brilliant instrumental technique.
Her musical mastery has been acknowledged through numerous honors and recognition, including more than 40 grand prizes in international piano competitions. She was honored with the Prize of Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, Italy, for the best italian graduate talent. The italian TV channel Rai, defined her an “italian musical excellence”. Born in Verona, Italy, Margherita started studying piano at the age of five at Prof. Laura Palmieri’s piano courses, who immediately recognized and began developing her extraordinary talent. She had her first public performance at age of six. She graduated with honors at the age of fifteen at Verona’s Conservatory, recording her first album featuring music by Chopin and Liszt. She attended the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and she pursued advanced studies with Natalia Trull at “Tchaikovsky” Conservatory in Moscow. She later gained a Master Degree with honors in Piano Performance presenting a monographic recital dedicated to the three Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonatas. Being passionate about writing, Margherita chose to write an extensive thesis: “R.Schumann: Life and Thought as music”. Her innate curiosity led her to pursue a degree in Communication studies in 2018, with the main focus on sociology and psychology, with a thesis about her own newly establish music festival. Margherita has conceived and launched the yearly concert season Herbst Musicaux Festival in Verona.Since then, she is the artistic director of the festival, designing every year the theme and the program of the concert season, which aim is to amplify the experience of classical music through contaminations with visual arts, theater and literature, to rediscover the works of women composers and to promote the connection between music, nature and human beings.
In the 2025 season Margherita’s discography will be enriched with a new album, featuring chamber music works. Her next engagements include Grieg Piano Concerto in Austria and both solo and chamber music concerts in Italy, Germany, Spain and China.