Described by “The Strad” Magazine as “Violin Hero”, Manrico Padovani, Swiss-born virtuoso violinist has performed at prestigious European festivals such as the Lucerne, Interlaken, and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festivals. His international career has taken him to major concert halls like the Musikverein in Vienna, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Ohji Hall in Tokyo, and the KKL in Lucerne.
He has won several international prizes, including the International Music Competition in Vienna and the Ruggiero Ricci Competition in Berlin. The famous violinist A.S. Mutter supported him through her foundation and invited him to play with her as a soloist on a European tour. He has also performed and recorded with many renowned orchestras like the Moscow Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsoviae, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, under prominent conductors such as R. Barshai, M. Viotti and A. Boreiko.
Padovani performed in the Sala Nervi of Vatican City in honor of Pope Benedict XVI, playing in front of 9,000 people.
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12 January 2025 19:30
Biography
“Penetrating lyricism,” ‘Devlish violinist,’ ‘A violin that enchants,’ are often the attributes used by music critics to describe Manrico Padovani's virtuoso and profound violinism. The specialized british newspaper “The Strad-Magazine” even described him as a “Violin Hero.”
Born in Zurich to Italian parents, he studied with Aida Piraccini-Stucki in Winterthur, Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam and received significant impulses from Ruggiero Ricci, Franco Gulli and Karl Heinz Stockhausen, Viktor Pikaizen and Boris Belkin. The famous violinist A.S. Mutter supported Manrico Padovani through her foundation by inviting him to play with her on a European tour.
Awarded in international competitions in Vienna, Berlin, the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, in Switzerland he won among others three times the “Kiefer-Hablitzel” prize of the “Swiss Association of Musicians”, the “Jubilee Prize” of the UBS, as well as the “Artist Prize” of the Foundation “Aargauer Kuratorium”.
After his debut at the “Lucerne-Festival” and in the grand hall of the “Casino” in Basel, he performed all over Europe, America and Asia in such concert halls as “Golden Hall, Wiener Musikverein”, “Alte Oper Frankfurt”, “Ohji Hall” Tokyo, ‘KKL’ Lucerne, ‘Smetana Hall’ Prague with orchestras such as Prague Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsoviae, Radio Sinfonie-Orchester Basel, OSI Lugano with conductors such as R. Barshai, M. Viotti, A. Boreiko, Peter Altrichter and many others.
Considered one of Switzerland's top talents, he was the first Swiss violinist to present the entire cycle of Paganini's 24 caprices live in a single evening.
A special highlight of his career was certainly his performance for Pope Benedict XVI in the Sala Nervi (in front of 9,000 spectators) at the Vatican.
Numerous recordings have been released for various international labels. His recording “Beethoven, compositions for violin and orchestra, Live in Prague” (ARS production) was nominated in 2021 for the prestigious German “Opus Klassik” award. His latest CD (Ars Production 2024) the second volume of his “Live” series, is dedicated to Paganini with Concertos and variations for violin and orchestra performed live in Bucharest, Seoul and Lugano.
With his series “24 Pills of Classical Music,” he has collected nearly 1 million views on his Facebook channel, thus being invited by Radio Svizzera Italiana (RSI Rete 2) to create 15 episodes for the series “Bis d'autore,” aired from Nov. 2023 to Jun. 24.
Manrico Padovani plays alternating on valuable and important violins Del Gesù-Vuillaume, Paris in 1861, J. Gagliano, Naples 1780, and A. Stradivari, Cremona1722.