Piano Lessons with Christian De Luca 

Reviewed by La Provincia di Como for “facing with great passion the fearful variations form Liszt’s Totentanz,” and for “being in a perfect state of grace,” pianist Christian De Luca was the overall “prize and audience award” winner of the 2014 International Competition for Piano and Orchestra, Città di Cantù, in the “Romantic Concerti” category.

Christian De Luca was born in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, in 1993, and began studying piano at age 8. At age 17 he made his debut performing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Umberto Giordano Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, and he graduated at age 18 from the Umberto Giordano Conservatory in Foggia, Italy, cum laude and honorable mention under the tutelage of Claudio Trovajoli.

During his studies in Italy, De Luca obtained first prize in many piano competitions, both national and international. In those years he also developed a strong interest in historical performance practice, as he had the opportunity to study with the Italian fortepianist Giuseppina De Berardinis, a pupil of Emilia Fadini.

He has performed in prestigious Italian concert halls including the Teatro Sociale in Como, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Teatro Ristori in Cividale del Friuli, the Academic Hall of the Pontifical Institute Sacred Music in Rome, the Teatro del Fuoco in Foggia, and the Teatro Comunale “Claudio Abbado” in Ferrara.

In 2012 he was awarded with a “special mention” at the Premio Nazionale Delle Arti – a competition that brings together the best pianists from all Italian conservatories. That same year he began working as a teaching assistant of his mentor, C. Trovajoli, at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome.

So far he has taken part in several masterclasses while receiving significant praise from artists such as Boris Berman, Paul Gulda, Leslie Howard, Robert Levin, Alexander Lonquich, Benedetto Lupo, Leonid Margarius, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Sir Andras Schiff, Paul-Badura Skoda, Jeffrey Swann, Arie Vardi, and Elisso’ Virsaladze.

In the autumn of 2014, De Luca moved to the United States, as he got accepted at The Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 2015 he made his New York City debut at Yamaha Artist Service Piano Salon, and in 2016 he performed at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. During the last two years he has kept pursuing his interest of historical performance practice while being coached by fortepianist, Audrey Axinn, and taking secondary harpsichord lessons with Peter Sykes. During his studies at Juilliard, he has also been a teaching fellow of the Secondary Piano and the Music Theory Department. Since autumn of 2016, he has been performing in a duo with cellist, Madeleine Bouissou.

Christian De Luca holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal, Julian Martin, and Matti Raekallio.

Among his interests other than music, Christian De Luca has a strong passion for poetry. Recently, he has been reciting poems reflecting the music he is performing on stage, receiving warm appreciation from his audiences.