Michelle Candotti

Michelle Candotti earned her piano diploma with top honors at age 14 from the “E.F. Dall’Abaco” Conservatory in Verona. She later completed an Artist Diploma in Performance with distinction at the Royal College of Music in London, studying with Dmitri Alexeev, and a Master’s Diploma from the Imola Academy under Franco Scala and Boris Petrushansky. She is currently studying with Claudio Palese and pursuing the Konzertexamen at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Hubert Rutkowski.

Recently, she was a semifinalist at the 18th Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, a prizewinner at the 5th Maj Lind Piano Competition in Helsinki, Second Prize winner at the Verona International Piano Competition, Second Prize winner at the 2022 German Piano Award, and Third Prize and Audience Prize winner at the XVII International Competition Gran Prix Animato in Paris.

Ms. Candotti has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacău, the Orchestra della Toscana, the Symphonic Orchestra Città di Grosseto, the Royal Philharmonic Concerto Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Goldoni Foundation, among others.

She gave a concert for the President of the Italian Republic at the Quirinale Palace (Paolina Chapel) that was streamed live by RAI, the national broadcaster. She has also performed in major concert venues including the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Sala Piatti in Bergamo, Royal Albert Hall in London, Atheneum Romano in Bucharest, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Ms. Candotti is supported by the Stiftung Flügel-Fundus.

Virtual First Round

Bach: Prelude and Fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, No. 24 in b minor, BWV 893

Haydn: Sonata in E-flat Major, No. 59, Hob. XVI: 49

I. Allegro

II. Adagio e cantabile

III. Finale: Tempo di Menuet

Rachmaninoff: Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5

Chopin: Étude in b minor, Op. 25, No. 10

Scriabin: Etude in d-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12

In-Person Second Round

Chopin: Barcarolle in f-sharp minor, Op. 60

Carl Vine: Resolve

Bartók: Sonata BB 88, Sz. 80

I. Allegro moderato

II. Sostenuto e pesante

III. Allegro molto

Granados: “Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor” in f-sharp minor, No. 4, from Goyescas

Liszt: “Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata” in d minor, No. 7, from Années de pèlerinage, S. 161

Semifinal Round – Chamber Music

Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Op. 108

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Un poco presto e con sentimento

IV. Presto agitato

Final Round

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor, Op. 23

I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso—Allegro con spirito

II. Andantino semplice—Prestissimo—Tempo I

III. Allegro con fuoco—Molto meno mosso—Allegro vivo