RAFFAELE MANI
Raffaele Mani has often been praised by the international press as a “musician of great artistic versatility, who can truly make the piano sing,” and described as a pianist “of outstanding technique and deeply thoughtful temperament, never descending into the vulgar or pretentious.” Authorities in the international music scene have said about him: “musically and emotionally he understands everything” (Liev Naumov), “he is a great musical intellect” (Joaquin Achucarro), and “a genius” (Boris Petruchansky).
Raffaele Mani was born in 1971 in Florence, Italy, and received his first piano lessons at age thirteen from Maria Nencioni Nobili. He later completed the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence in the class of Lucia Passaglia.
Between 1991 and 1993 he studied with Liev Naumov (the assistant of Heinrich Neuhaus) at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow in a special program for advanced studies reserved for a small group of selected students from all five continents.
In 1994 he received the “Joel Estes Tate” Scholarship and was admitted to the Artist Certificate Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, USA. There he studied with Joaquin Achucarro and also took part in Spanish masterclasses of the Chigiana Academy in Siena. Subsequently he received the “Diploma di Merito.”
In 1996 Raffaele Mani was awarded the “Geo. Oeldridge” Scholarship, enabling him to continue his academic and piano studies at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. In 1998 he earned a Master’s degree in “Piano Performance” and was inducted into the “Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.” In the same year he received the “Lapi-Hiscott” Scholarship in Florence. In recent years, Mani has performed with some of the world’s leading concert organizations as well as renowned orchestras and conductors such as Piero Bellugi, Paul Phili, Piero Rizzo, and Constantina Tsolainu, and has played in numerous benefit concerts.
In addition to his classical repertoire, Mani has performed not only the complete piano works of Arnold Schoenberg (including Pierrot Lunaire) and Luigi Dallapiccola (including the Piccolo Concerto per Muriel Couvreux and Inni for three pianos), but also interpreted works by many other 20th‑century composers. Mani has also served as artistic director of the “Festival della Montagna Fiorentina” in Florence.
Since 2003 he has taught piano at the music school in Bad Nauheim and has since recorded all works for piano and piano with orchestra by Luigi Dallapiccola (META Records). His students have already won numerous prizes at German piano competitions (including several first prizes at the national and state “Jugend musiziert” competitions), participated in corresponding master classes, and been admitted to various German universities and American universities. In 2008 Mani debuted as a composer with his work “Preludio d’Autunno” in a television documentary about the life and work of the Italian painter Antonio Ligabue.
In the same year he founded Appassionato and has continued to develop the idea of an international master seminar ever since. In 2011 he, together with Thomas Hanelt, recorded his own choral arrangement of Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” as a CD production with the Motettenchor Frankfurt and actor Christian Brückner. Mani was chosen by the Joaquin Achucarro Foundation as a pianist for the “Legacy of Pianist.”
Raffaele Mani has often been praised by the international press as a “musician of great artistic versatility, who can truly make the piano sing,” and described as a pianist “of outstanding technique and deeply thoughtful temperament, never descending into the vulgar or pretentious.” Authorities in the international music scene have said about him: “musically and emotionally he understands everything” (Liev Naumov), “he is a great musical intellect” (Joaquin Achucarro), and “a genius” (Boris Petruchansky).
Raffaele Mani was born in 1971 in Florence, Italy, and received his first piano lessons at age thirteen from Maria Nencioni Nobili. He later completed the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence in the class of Lucia Passaglia.
Between 1991 and 1993 he studied with Liev Naumov (the assistant of Heinrich Neuhaus) at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow in a special program for advanced studies reserved for a small group of selected students from all five continents.
In 1994 he received the “Joel Estes Tate” Scholarship and was admitted to the Artist Certificate Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, USA. There he studied with Joaquin Achucarro and also took part in Spanish masterclasses of the Chigiana Academy in Siena. Subsequently he received the “Diploma di Merito.”
In 1996 Raffaele Mani was awarded the “Geo. Oeldridge” Scholarship, enabling him to continue his academic and piano studies at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. In 1998 he earned a Master’s degree in “Piano Performance” and was inducted into the “Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.” In the same year he received the “Lapi-Hiscott” Scholarship in Florence. In recent years, Mani has performed with some of the world’s leading concert organizations as well as renowned orchestras and conductors such as Piero Bellugi, Paul Phili, Piero Rizzo, and Constantina Tsolainu, and has played in numerous benefit concerts.
In addition to his classical repertoire, Mani has performed not only the complete piano works of Arnold Schoenberg (including Pierrot Lunaire) and Luigi Dallapiccola (including the Piccolo Concerto per Muriel Couvreux and Inni for three pianos), but also interpreted works by many other 20th‑century composers. Mani has also served as artistic director of the “Festival della Montagna Fiorentina” in Florence.
Since 2003 he has taught piano at the music school in Bad Nauheim and has since recorded all works for piano and piano with orchestra by Luigi Dallapiccola (META Records). His students have already won numerous prizes at German piano competitions (including several first prizes at the national and state “Jugend musiziert” competitions), participated in corresponding master classes, and been admitted to various German universities and American universities. In 2008 Mani debuted as a composer with his work “Preludio d’Autunno” in a television documentary about the life and work of the Italian painter Antonio Ligabue.
In the same year he founded Appassionato and has continued to develop the idea of an international master seminar ever since. In 2011 he, together with Thomas Hanelt, recorded his own choral arrangement of Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” as a CD production with the Motettenchor Frankfurt and actor Christian Brückner. Mani was chosen by the Joaquin Achucarro Foundation as a pianist for the “Legacy of Pianist.”