by Sebastiana Ierna
Gifted with brilliant talent and a strong passion for the piano repertoire, Luigi Carroccia, despite not having begun his musical studies at a young age, has certainly accelerated his career. In just a few years, he has won awards at the Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, the Ferruccio Busoni Competition in Bolzano, and the Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Originally from Terracina (Latina), born in 1991, he has been performing extensively internationally since 2015 and currently teaches piano at the Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia.
We met him ahead of his first participation in the Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival, scheduled for September 26-28, 2025.
You started playing the accordion thanks to your father and grandfather, and then moved on to the piano. What made you choose this path?
What drove me was the need to play pieces that fascinated me and piqued my interest. Around 13 or 14 years old, I began to explore the vast repertoire of this instrument, and in my early twenties, I decided to study it professionally, meeting artists and teachers who left a profound musical impression on me. Roberto Prosseda encouraged me to further my education, which began in Italy and continued in Birmingham and Waterloo. Alessandra Brustia and Louis Lortie were key figures in my development.
How did the idea of recording the two young Chopin Concertos in a more intimate version come about?
A couple of years ago, I played them in Rome with the Orchestra delle Cento Città, conducted by Maestro Luigi Piovano. Louis Lortie, who was present at the time, recommended I record them, mentioning the chamber music transcription written by the Polish composer himself. So I decided to make a recording with a string quintet, and in February 2025, I had the immense pleasure of appearing on the cover of the monthly magazine Amadeus with an unreleased CD of the two concertos in this formation.
At Cremona Musica, you’ll be performing your first concert with the Doré Quartet and double bassist Edoardo Dolci, in an event titled “Immortal Chopin.” When will it be possible to hear you?
We will perform together for the first time on September 28th at 12:00 pm in the Zelioli Lanzini Hall for the Fazioli Piano Festival. I made my Chopin recording at the Fazioli company headquarters in Sacile. It is an unusual chamber piece, with many challenges, in which the piano is the star and the strings provide a warm timbre that evokes the atmosphere of a 19th-century noble salon. I can’t wait to share this experience with the Cremonese audience!
