Leonardo Colafelice

In May 2014 Leonardo Colafelice – 18 years old at the time - was one of the six finalists at the XIV Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv, where he also received three important special prizes: best performer of a Classical Concerto, best performer of a Chopin composition, most outstanding pianist up to 22 years of age. 
Between 2012 and 2013 he won several important international awards: gold medal at the "Gina Bachauer Young Artists International Piano Competition" in Salt Lake City (USA), first-prize  at the "Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition" in Oberlin and Cleveland (USA), gold medal at the "Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition" in Rochester (USA) in 2012; Gold Medal at the Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition in Arizona (where he received the prize from Martha Argerich’s hands), First Prize at the  Aarhus Competition in Denmark, and First Prize at the Hilton Head Competition in U.S.A. in 2013. 
He is also the first-prize winner at many other international piano competitions, including: "The Young Pianist of the North International Piano Competition" in Newcastle (UK), the "International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Young Artists" in Szafarnia (Poland), the "Concours Musical de France" in Paris, the "International Tournament of Music" (TIM) in Verona (Italy) and the "Premio Città di Padova" in Padua (Italy). 
Born in 1995 in Altamura (Bari), Southern Italy, Leonardo began to study piano at the age of 8.  He is currently a pupil of Pasquale Iannone at the "Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music" in Bari. Leonardo has attended piano master classes and courses with Aldo Ciccolini and Marisa Somma. 
He has performed Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra among others, and has been the soloist with other important orchestras, such as The Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto with conductors Giordano Bellincampi, Asher Fisch, Frederic Chaslin, Eugene Tzigane, Avner Biron, Jahja Ling, Neil Varon, and Michele Marvulli among others.
His recent engagements include recitals in Budapest and Tbilisi, the debut with the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan (Beethoven’s First Concerto), with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark (Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto), and he will soon perform with The National Symphony Orchestra of Chile, Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, and  The Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in Norway.