2005 Cliburn Competition finalist Davide Cabassi made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen with the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Milan. He has also collaborated with the Munich Philharmonic, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and the Russian Chamber Philharmonic, as well as with several Italian orchestras working with such conductors as Gustav Kuhn, James Conlon, Asher Fisch, and Vladimir Delman, among others. In recital, he has been engaged by most of the prominent musical associations of his native country, including Serate Musicali and Societa dei Concerti in Milan and Festival Pianistico in Brescia and Bergamo. Abroad, Mr. Cabassi has played concerts in Austria, China, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, highlighted by appearances in Salzburg�s Mozarteum, the Gasteig in Munich, and Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow.
Appreciated for the warmth and sincerity he brings to his performances, Mr. Cabassi has been popular with U.S. presenters and audiences since he was declared a winner of the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2005. During the 2006-2007 concert season, he made his debut with the Amarillo, Hartford, Imperial (FL), and Mid-Texas Symphony Orchestras, and toured with the Manchester Music Festival orchestra, including engagements in Vermont and New York. He also was engaged for recitals and educational programs by Purdue University in Lafayette (IN); the University of Wyoming in Laramie; and the Portland Piano International Festival in Oregon. This season, he performs in fifteen states and is featured with the Illinois and Florida West Coast Symphony orchestras. International engagements will take him to Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland including a recital at the Louvre in Paris.
Davide Cabassi�s debut disc for Sony-BMG records, Dancing with the Orchestra, featuring works by Bartók, De Falla, Ravel, and Stravinsky, was released worldwide in the spring of 2006. In May 2007, he recorded Brahms� Concerto No. 1 with conductor Gustav Kuhn for label Col Legno and in October he will record two solo discs for the Endeavor label (Allegro). He was featured prominently in the film documentary about the Twelfth Cliburn Competition, In the Heart of Music, which was aired by PBS stations throughout all major U.S. markets. After graduating from Milan�s Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory where he was a student of Professor Ponti, Mr. Cabassi spent several years as one of the few select students at the International Piano Foundation in Cadenabbia, Italy, taking masterclasses with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Dmitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, Rosalyn Tureck, and William Grant Naboré, among others. Recently married, he is a faculty member of the Verdi Conservatory in Milan and directs a chamber music festival, Festivo dell�angelo, in Lucca, Italy.