Sergio Fiorentino

Italian pianist. He was born 22 December 1927 in Naples, Italy and died 22 August 1998 in Naples, Italy Sergio Fiorentino studied at the S. Pietro a Maiella where he took his diploma in 1946. Apart from his studies, he worked with Carlo Zecchi in the summer of 1948. Fiorentino stated more than once the debt he owes to him. However, before that he already distinguished himself as a young artist. In June 1947, he won the 2nd prize at the International Piano Competition at Geneva, and the 1st prize in January 1948, at the Rossomandi Contest in Naples, and again in October 1948, at the International Piano Competition held at Genoa. He achieved all this before he reached the age of 19! At the age of 28, his repertoire already included nearly 40 concertos and the complete cycle of Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Sergio Fiorentino had a special affinity with Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff at that time and already played his complete piano works. He broadcasted Rachmaninoff's 4th Concerto for the BBC on his first visit to London in 1955, a few years later he recorded his 24 Preludes and the Etudes Tableaux for Saga Records (these where planned, but never released). By that time he also played the complete works of Frédéric Chopin and the major works of Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt.