Manrico Padovani

Described by “The Strad” Magazine as “Violin Hero”, Manrico Padovani is the first swiss violinist who performed live in concert the complete cycle of the 24 caprices op. 1 for violin solo by N. Paganini.“Forceful lyricist”, „Enchanting, bewitching violin”, „A rising star”, „Devil’s fiddler”, “Wizard of the violin” are only a few of the words used by the critics to describe the emotions stirred up by Manrico Padovani during his performances distinguished by a breathtaking skill united to rhythmic tension and an exceptional mastery of the instrument.
After his debut at the „Lucerne Festival” and at the „Stadtcasino” Basel, he performed all over Europe, in America and in Asia in concert halls like the „Wiener Musikverein“, the “Alte Oper Frankfurt”, the “Ohji Hall” in Tokio, the “Kultur- e Kongresszentrum” Lucerne, the “Philharmonie of Cologne” and so on with orchestras like the „Stuttgarter Philharmoniker“, the “Prague Philharmonic Orchestra”, the „Russian Philharmonic Orchestra Moscow”, the „Sinfonia Varsovia”, the „Südwestdeutsche Philarmonie“, the „Akademische Staatskapelle St. Petersburg“, the „Radio Sinfonie Orchester Basel“, the „Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana“, the „Stadtorchester Winterthur” the „Regina Symphony Orchestra“, the “North-Czech Philharmonic”, the „Güri Philharmonic Orchestra Seoul” etc. under the batons of conductors like R. Barshai, M. Viotti, A. Boreiko, H. Griffiths, M. Andreae, J. Lü, B. Perrenoud and P. Altrichter.
Born in Zürich to parents of Italian origin he studied in the Masterclasses of Aida Stucki-Piraccini (also Anne-Sophie Mutter’s teacher) in Winterthur, great violinist and great teacher who decisively influenced him, and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam.R. Ricci, F. Gulli, V. Pikaizen, D. Zsygmondy and K.H. Stockhausen also influenced his playing.Given as one of the most outstanding Swiss violinists, he won a wide range of prizes at the „Vienna International Music Competition”, at „Ruggiero Ricci’s International Master Competition” in Berlin, at the „Accademia Chigiana” in Siena, the „Swiss Youth Music Festival Prize“, three times the „Kiefer-Hablitzel Prize“ of the Swiss Musicians‘ Association, as well as awards from the “Julius Bär” and the “Schuler” Foundations. The important „Jubilee prize” of the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was also among his awards.
He is also supported by the “Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation”. In spring 2011 he was with Anne-Sophie Mutter and her group “Mutter’s Virtuosi” on Europa-Tour, playing as solosist and chamber music with his famous mentor.Moreover he was also awarded in 2011 with the “Artistic Contribution” from the “Aargauer Kuratorium” (Switzerland).Beside the already published recordings on CD and DVD (a.o. violin concertos by Brahms, Beethoven, Prokofjew nr. 1 and Paganini nr. 1), the new releases on DVD and CD will include live performances in Vienna (DVD with a Live virtuoso solo violin recital at the Bösendorfersaal), Prague (DVD’s playing Beethoven Violin Concerto and New Year’s Concert playing pieces by Saint-Saens, Sarasate and Massenet) and in Seoul (CD playing Paganini’s second violin concerto op. 7 “La Campanella”).
Manrico Padovani was also invited for a recording of the soundtrack for Eric Bernasconi’s feature film, Sinestesia, which was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2010.Highlights of the current Saison will be a.o. the concert for the Pope Benedict XVI at the Sala Nervi in Vaticano together with the outstanding Russian-Greek violinist Natasha Korsakova. The event will take place in connection with the Foundation “Sorella Natura” (Italy), where he is acting as Testimonial. Other performances include collaborations and crossover-projects with Spanish popstars. He will also play some first performances of works by Thomas Fortmann, specially written for him.Manrico Padovani plays alternately on a violin made by G. F. Pressenda in Turin in 1843 as well as on the Stadivarius-Vuillaume „Messiah“ made in Paris in 1871. These precious instruments come generously from the famous private collection of Mr. Giovanni Accornero.