Fortepianist Neonato to teach, perform this week

Italian fortepianist Stefania Neonato will perform in concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at the Arthur Zankel Music Center.

An internationally renowned fortepianist, Neonato has received many awards during her career including prizes at such national piano competitions and international contests as Paris, Salzburg, Miami, Miskolc, and Dortmund. She was first-prize and audience prize-winner at the 2007 International Fortepiano Competition "Musica Antiqua" held in Bruges. Her music airs live on popular radio stations including WCNY, New York, Radio Clasica (Spain), Rai Tre (Italy), Klara Radio (Belgium), and WDR3 (Germany).

Born in Trento, Italy, Neonato received a fortepiano master's degree at the Imola International Academy, where she was a student of Stefano Fluzzi. She continued research and completed a doctorate of musical arts in historical performance practice under Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University.

She has written many articles, essays, and reviews for music journals; among these are her review of "Early Music" in Oxford Journals and "Keyboard Perspectives" at Cornell. Her research focuses on musicological issues, in which she has done extensive, groundbreaking research on the piano aesthetic around the turn of the 19^th century. In 2004, she returned to Trento Conservatory to teach a seminar on the historical performance practice.

Neonato will conduct a master class/lecture for the Skidmore Piano Performance Class at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27in Zankel. The lecture is free and open to the public.

At Friday's concert she will perform Beethoven's Sonata Op. 27 Quasi una fantasia, popularly known as Moonlight Sonata, one of Beethoven's most admired compositions for the piano. Her program also includes Clementi's Sonata Op. 25, one of the best-known Clementi sonatas, and a romantic, improvised piece, Beethoven's Fantasie Op. 77. The concert will conclude with the Scottish sonata by Mendelssohn, Fantasie Op. 28.

Admission for the Sept. 28, 8 p.m. Stefania Neonato performance is $8 general public, $5 seniors and Skidmore faculty/staff/retirees/alumni, and free for students and children. For advance reservations please click here or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-5321 for more information. The Zankel Music Center is wheelchair accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired. For more information, please click here.