Born in Italy, Francesca Cardone began her studies at the age of six and graduated with highest honors from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. She participated in numerous national and international competitions, winning first prizes at the Franz Liszt competition in Lucca, the Rome ’89 competition, the Scriabin competition and the Sulmona contest (1993). She has also won first prizes at the International Contest in Stresa (Italy) with clarinettist Carlo Failli, as well as in Kingsville (USA) with clarinettist Ilya Shterenberg.
Cardone participated in courses at the prestigious Salzurg Mozarteum in Austria and the Chigiana Academy in Italy where she got a diploma with honors. She has attended classes of such distinguished artists as Murray Perahia, Alexander Lonquich, Paul Badura-Skoda, Michael Wladkowski and Marcella Crudeli.
From ’91 to ’95 she studied at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas with Maestro Joaquín Achúcarro obtaining an Artist Certificate Diploma in 1993, followed by a Master of Music diploma in May 1995. In the spring of the same year, she was elected a member of the Society of Pi Kappa Lambda of Dallas, whose members are outstanding teachers and students of various disciplines. In addition, Cardone holds diplomas in solo piano performance and chamber music from the prestigious Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, where she studied with Professor Sergio Perticaroli and Professor Felix Ayo. She also holds diplomas in music pedagogy (1998 and 1999) from the Donna Olimpia School in Rome. During the academic year 1999-2000 she took part in the production of academic works for the University of Westminster – London. She has worked as an instrumental and vocal accompanist for academic and artistic Austrian institutions such as the Salzburg Festival and the Musikum, the University of Miami (summer master-classes), as well as for opera-singer Grace Bumbry’s vocal studio in Salzburg.
As a performer, Cardone plays not only as a soloist but also in chamber music ensembles and orchestras. She concertizes in Italy, where she has already performed for important music associations such as the A. Casagrande society, the Barattelli society, the Sala Casella at the Roman Philharmonic Academy, the A.R.A.M. (Associazione Romana Amici della Musica), the Auditorium Santa Cecilia, the E.P.T.A. (European Piano Teachers’ Association), the Marrucino Theatre in Chieti and the Fenaroli Music Society, and abroad where she has performed in Austria, France, Spain, England, Japan and the United States.
Cardone has participated in the prestigious Festival delle Nazioni of Città di Castello (Italy), obtaining great success from both the public and critics. Winner of the A.R.A.M. selection for concerts abroad, she went on a tour to Germany and Poland in 1998 and was invited back the following year. Among these concerts, she played at the F. Chopin Museum in Warsaw, sponsored by the famous F. Chopin Academy of the same city. Recently, she has performed at the prestigious Salzburg Festival for a Christmas event as well as at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (Italy) where she gave a chamber music concert with Mr. Florian Zwiauer and Mr. Herbert Müller, the first violin and first viola of the Wiener Symphoniker orchestra, and with Ms. Gabriele Sima, singer at the Wiener Staatsoper as well as with members of the Wiener Philharmoniker and Volksoper Orchestras.
As a member of the Italian Cultural Institute Società Dante Alighieri in Salzburg, Cardone recently increased interest in the collaboration of various artistic forms with special attention for the binomial music – literature. This particular interest led her to conceive various CD productions, two of those dealing with pieces from the romantic period. One concerns piano and vocal pieces from F. Liszt’s Annèe de Pelerinage – Italie (II Book) and the literary-pictorial medieval and Renaissance works which were the original inspiration sources for the musical compositions (www.dante-salzburg.com and www.classicconcert.com). The second includes piano-solo and chamber-music pieces by J. Brahms and the German literature of his time (www.extraplatte.com). Both productions are to be found also through the Internet at Amazon.de.
Cardone’s most recent work concerns the musical and literary repertoire from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century following the path already started from the artist with the two prior releases. The musical panorama presents composers such as D. Scarlatti, D. Cimarosa , M. Clementi, W.A. Mozart, whose pieces are all connected to Italian operas of G. Paisiello, A. Salieri and G. Sarti. The CD has been published in two different versions, “Mozart und Zeitgenossen” includes German poetry (www.preiserrecords.at) and the other, titled “Mozart e dintorni”, more recently publisched and distributed by Lumière Produzioni Musicali, includes Italian literature. Isabel Karajan, Peter Simonischek, Arnoldo Foà are among the outstanding artists who interpret the literary texts of this particular recording.
Mrs. Cardone holds a teaching position at the Pädagogische Hochschule and at the Dante Alighieri Society in Salzburg, Austria. She was also a faculty member of the Appassionato Music Programme in Italy and Austria.
For more information or booking inquiries, please visit www.francescacardone.com.
