|
The Italian pianist and pedagogue, Maria (Luisa) Tipo, gave her first public piano performance at the age of four. Her teacher was her mother, Ersilia Cavallo, herself a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni. She later received master-classes from Alfredo Casella and Guido Agosti. In 1948 she won 2nd prize (no 1st prize was given) at the Geneva International Competition, and returned in 1949 (age 17) to capture its 1st prize. In 1952 she won 3rd prize at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition in Brussels.
Maria Tipo's success led rapidly to invitations to all the major musical centers in Europe as well as in the USA, Central and South America, Africa, U.R.S.S., Japan and the Middle East. She made her New York debut in 1955. After an absence of 32 years, she returned to New York in 1991 as a recitalist at the Metropolitan Musem of Art. She has performed whith the greatest orchestra in the world, among which the Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Sympony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sympony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Salzburb Mozarteum, La Scala in Milan, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome), RAI Milan-Turin-Rome, Florence May, English Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, etc. Chamber music is also one of her interests, and she has performed with such artists as the Amadeus Quartet, Quartetto di Fiesole, Salvatore Accardo and Uto Ughi.
Maria Tipo has also recorded extensively. The first of recordind for Ricordi label, 12 Scarlatti Sonatas, was hailed by Newsweek as “the most spectacular record of the year”. Her recording of piano sonatas by Clementi for Fonit Cetra is now a collector’s item. In the lasts years Maria Tipo records exclusively for EMI. Her recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) ” and Eighten Scarlatti Sonatas have both won the Diapason d’Or.
In addition to her career as a concert pianist, Maria Tipo is a dedicaded teacher. She was a professor at the Conservatories of Bolzano, Florence and Geneva, and has taught students from all over the world. She is frequently invited to judge major International Competitions. She holds the Cours de Perfectionnement et Virtuosité in Geneva and theaches masters-classes at the Gubbio Festival and at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
Maria Tipo has also been awarted the following prize: Saint-Vincent Long Playing 1979, First Prize Musical Critics 1985, Maschera d’Argento, Apollo Musagete, Gargano Awards, Gino Tani Awards, Ernest Hemingway Awards, Quadrivio Awards, Firenze-Europa Awards, Le Muse Awards, Personality of the year Awards. She has been nominated Academy of S.Cecilia in Rome, recentely she has been nominated Officier des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and received the Fiorino D’Oro in Florence.
Maria Tipo championed the cause of traditional Italian keyboard music. |
