Gabriele Carcano

Univ.-Prof. for piano (starting in October 2026)⋅Keyboard Department

Gabriele Carcano is Professor of Piano at Mozarteum University Salzburg, where he was appointed in 2026. An internationally acclaimed pianist, and one of the most prominent Italian musicians of his generation, he performs as a recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist and is known for his sensitive and communicative approach to music. He received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award in 2010.

Born in Turin, Carcano began playing the piano at the age of seven and graduated with honours from the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi in his home city at 17. He went on to study with Andrea Lucchesini at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo and with Aldo Ciccolini in Paris, before joining the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where his teachers included Nicholas Angelich and Marie-Françoise Bucquet. He later worked with Richard Goode and Alfred Brendel. His musical education was supported by the Fondazione De Sono, Fondazione CRT and the Fondation des Banques Populaires Françaises – Natexis.

Carcano has appeared at major concert venues across Europe, North America and Asia. These include Tonhalle Zurich, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Herkulessaal in Munich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London, KKL Luzern, the Boulez Saal in Berlin, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and Parco della Musica in Rome. He has also been a guest at festivals such as the Mariinsky International Piano Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Radio France Festival in Montpellier, Rheingau Musik Festival, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse and Festival Pablo Casals.

As a concerto soloist, he has worked with orchestras including the Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Staatskapelle Weimar, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Orchestra Petruzzelli of Bari and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. His collaborators on the podium have included Ton Koopman, Alain Altinoglu, Lawrence Foster, Ion Marin, Claus Peter Flor, Maxim Emelyanychev, Daniel Oren and Clemens Schuldt.

Chamber music is another important part of Carcano's work. He regularly performs with Carolin Widmann, Stephen Waarts, Lorenza Borrani, the Hermes Quartet, Eckart Runge, Viviane Hagner, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Enrico Dindo and bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann. At the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida, he participated in the Marlboro Music Festival four times and subsequently joined Musicians from Marlboro tours. These took him to Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Soceity, Gardner Museum Concerts in Boston and venues in Montreal, Toronto and Washington, DC.

Carcano is also interested in developing new concert formats and working across artistic disciplines. From 2020 to 2022, he performed all of Beethoven's piano sonatas with the Fidelio Orchestra in London. In recent years, he has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects with the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, touring with the company throughout Europe.

His discography includes a debut recording of early works by Johannes Brahms for OehmsClassics, followed by a solo album of Schumann and a duo recording with violinist Stephen Waarts for Rubicon Classics. The recordings have received critical acclaim from publications including the Sunday Telegraph, the Independent, Fono Forum and Amadeus, as well as BBC and NDR radio, and have won two Supersonic Awards from Pizzicato.

Carcano is a Steinway Artist and also teaches at the Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo, Italy.