Czech Chamber Music Society • Federico Colli

“I don’t consider myself a mere pianist or technician of piano playing. I consider myself an artist whose most distinct trait should be curiosity. To be curious about every aspect of reality, which can be conducive in creating harmony between the human soul and beauty. Every aspect of life and every aspect of mind should conform to the endeavour to make art serve beauty,” says Federico Colli, a young Italian pianist who over the past few years has mesmerised audiences at Europe’s major concert venues with his compelling, highly imaginative, philosophical approach to music-making. In addition to performing, he has also explored literature, philosophy and religion, which, as he himself puts it, help him to “become a better human being”, adding: “I would be happy if people thought of me as an open-minded artist. An artist who makes use of doubt so as to better understand music and beauty, and the relation between beauty and truth.”

Born in Brescia, Lombardy, Federico Colli has been voted one of the 30 pianists under 30 to dominate the world stage, and selected as one of the 40 most influential Italians under 30. Although not musicians themselves, his parents recognised his talent. At the age of three or four, he began taking private percussion lessons, followed later by electric piano classes. At the age of 11, he started to devote to the classical piano, which he proceeded to study at the Milan Conservatory (within a special private training mode, only attending exams), the Imola International Piano Academy and the Mozarteum. While in Salzburg, he won first prize at the famed International Mozart Competition in 2011. A year later, he received the Gold Medal at the Leeds International Piano Competition. In the wake of these triumphs, he embarked upon a series of European concerts. He has been invited to the Musikverein in Vienna, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London and other hallowed venues.

Federico Colli has given a number of appearances in the Czech Republic. Following performances at the Dvořák Prague festival, in February 2022 he enthused local music lovers at a recital with the violinist Josef Špaček, a friend of his. Over the long term, he has collaborated with the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava, where in April 2019 he showcased his mastery rendering Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas, which at the time he was recording for Chandos Records, his exclusive publisher. The album has gained critical acclaim (Presto Classical, BBC Music Magazine, International Piano Magazine). With the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, he has also performed works by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Dmitri Shostakovich. In May 2023, he stood in for Lukáš Vondráček and delivered Franz Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands. The iconic piece, the preparation of which Colli describes on social media as follows: “when you don’t have four hands and 20 fingers, but just a marvellous transcription, a good piano and tons of hours of practising”, will be heard tonight as arranged for solo piano.

The piano cycle On an Overgrown Path is perhaps one of the most popular compositions by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928). The 15 intimate miniatures are simple, poetic, and yet typical of Janáček’s own musical language. The numbers are divided into two series composed between 1900 and 1911. Some of the little pieces from Series One (e.g. Our Evenings, Good Night!, The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!) have titles that fit in with our theme of evening and night. “In the little pieces from On an Overgrown Path, there are remembrances from long ago”, Janáček wrote to Jan Branberger; “they are so nice that I think there will never be an end to them.”