Gianluca Luisi is considered by international critics (American Record Guide, New York Classical Reviews, Potsdamer Nachrichten, Fanfare, Musica, etc. ) one of the best Italian pianists of our time.
His concerts have received enthusiastic acclaim from audiences all over the world.
He has performed in prestigious halls such as: La Maison Symphonique in Montreal, Canada – the Toyota Concert Hall and Nagoya Concert Hall, Japan – the Shenzhen Grand Theater and the New Shanghai Symphony Hall, China – the New Auditorium in Milan and Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (Italy) – the Mozart Saal (Stuttgart Bachakademie), the Max Reger Halle and Walter Gieseking Hall, Germany – the Szymanowski Concert Hall, Katowice (Poland) – in the Bauman Auditorium of Portland, Rosa Center Lower College, USA.
He has been invited to hold concerts for historic institutions such as: Carnegie Hall (New York) – the Musikverein (Vienna) – the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival (Hamburg) – the Husum Festival (rarities of piano music) – the Evenings Musicals in Milan – Tiroler Festspiele (Austria) – the Bachtage in Potsdam (Berlin) – the Bach Festival in Leipzig and Koethen and in many other international musical associations.
He graduated with top marks and honors from the “G.Rossini” Conservatory of Pesaro under the guidance of Maestro Franco Scala and specialized at the Imola Academy “Incontri col Maestro” (with the Maestros Lazar Berman, Boris Petrushansky, Riccardo Risaliti and Piero Rattalino) and with the Italian-French pianist Aldo Ciccolini.
As a young student he participated as an active student in the masterclasses of the following pianists: Rosalyn Tureck, Tatjana Nikolayeva, Alexis Weissenberg, Pier Narciso Masi, Joaquin Achucarro, Jorg Demus, Paul Badura Skoda, Andrzey Jasìnski, Walter Blankenheim, Alexander Lonquich.
He was the winner of numerous competitions including first prize at the 4th International JSBach Competition in Saarbrucken-Wurtzburg, Germany, and was acclaimed by German critics as a new interpreter of JSBach.
His programs have also included rare and difficult to perform repertoire such as the complete Well-Tempered Clavier by JSBach performed from memory in two evenings and recorded for Centaur Records, the complete Beethoven symphonies in F. Liszt’s transcription (together with pianist Konstantin Sherbakov), Chopin’s two concerts with the Frankfurt Radio String Orchestra, L.Thuille’s sonatas, G.Onslow’s music, JS Bach’s English and French suites.
He has made 26 recordings for various labels, including Centaur Records (Bach WTC and Liszt, Years of Pilgrimage), Naxos (L.Thuille chamber music, Liszt piano recitals and Cramer studies), Dabringhaus und Grimm mDG (the two concerts of Chopin and the quintets of G.Onslow), the 6 Partitas and 6 French Suites by JS Bach for AEVEA Classic, the sonatas by WA Mozart and other repertoire for Onclassical, the studies by M.Clementi for ARTS and a CD for Pianorecital with the improvisations and musical moments by F.Schubert.
His recording of JS Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier received 6 out of 6 stars from Piano News magazine in Germany and the American Record Guide cited it as an absolute reference together with the historic one by Edwin Fischer.
The CD with L.Thuille’s works has received countless appreciations (“the playing is technically and musically superb, EXPEDITION AUDIO Reviews). The album for the Danish label Danacord, at the Husum Festival, was cited by GRAMOPHONE (UK) as the best CD reviewed by the English magazine of November 2013.
The magazine “Musica” has reviewed some of his records with 5 stars out of 5 and the Naxos CD with transcriptions by F.Liszt was also appreciated by Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Concerts (live) were recorded by Deutschland Radio Kultur (Berlin), Cleveland Radio (USA), Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), Saarlandischer Rundfunk (Germany). He has collaborated with international orchestras such as the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra, the Form (Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra), the San Carlo Orchestra of Naples, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsch Kammer Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonica Rossini, the Kasugay Orchestra (Japan), the Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt. He has collaborated with the following musicians and conductors: Alun Francis, Thomas Sanderling (during the Engadine Sommer Academy St. Moritz), Michel Brousseau, David Crescenzi, Andrea Battistoni, Enrico Belli, Mirca Rosciani, Peter Eotvos (at the Eotvos Contemporary Academy Foundation of Budapest), Michael Zukernik.
His repertoire is vast and ranges from Bach to contemporaries. Gianluca Luisi is Boesendorfer artist and Naxos recording artist.
He was invited to the jury at the prestigious Tchaikowsky competition for young pianists where the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang was also the winner.
Since 2011 he has been artistic director of the historical Marche competition “Coppa Pianisti” (member of the Alink Argerich Foundation, AAF), of the “Osimo Piano Hours” festival and in 2015 he was awarded honorary citizenship of the city.
He is a member of the committee of the Shenzhen Artstar Cultural Community Co. LTD and International Piano Museum Organizing Center in Shenzhen (China). He taught at the Academy of Imola Incontri col Maestro in the multi-year course for young pianists, at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, at the Accademia Pianistica delle Marche in Recanati high-level courses, at the Engadine Sommer Academy of Samedan in San Moritz, at the Conservatory Umberto Giordano of Foggia and is currently a teacher at the “G. Rossini” in Pesaro.
He has held master classes in some important American universities (Portland George Fox, Nevada Las Vegas, New York Westminster Conservatory, Lower Columbia College Washington, Denver State University Colorado), in the Saarland Hochschule, in Japan (Nagoya, Yamaha teachers course) and China at the Shanghai City Conservatory of Music. He encouraged the careers of some particularly talented young pianists and students who have achieved important recognition. A double Decca CD with the complete concerts for piano and orchestra by JS Bach (BWV 1060-1065), a live album with the preludes of Chopin op. 28 for Onclassical (2020) and a CD dedicated to Chinese composers for Naxos (2020).
