Maurizio MATARRESE He graduated with the highest honors and honors at the Conservatory of Music "Niccolò Piccini" in Bari under the guidance of Marisa Somma. She then continued her piano studies with Novin Afrouz, Paul Badura Skoda, Aldo Ciccolini and François-Joël Thiollier. He made his debut at the age of seventeen performing Carl Maria von Weber ’s “Konzertstücke, Op. 79” at the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari, accompanied by the Bari Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has enjoyed a brilliant concert career, both as a soloist and in a piano duo with his wife Carla Aventaggiato, and has performed for major musical organizations at prestigious venues (Rome, Milan, Lecce, Brindisi, Rovigo, Cosenza, Matera, Potenza, Ravello, Amalfi, etc.), receiving acclaim from audiences and critics alike everywhere he has performed. On New Year’s Eve 2008, he performed “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin at the Teatro Piccinni in Bari; the concert was recorded and broadcast by the television network “Telenorba.” A prize winner in numerous national and international piano competitions, he has recorded two CDs: “Franck & Beethoven” (Fonit Cetra 1990) and “Nino Rota, Piano Music from Fellini’s Films” (Ducale 1997). This latter recording received highly favorable reviews: “…Brilliant, fascinating and intensely poetic execution (Rome); ...Happy interpreter and fervent temperament (La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno ";...Work with remarkable artistic value (Amadeus); ...Intimacy and sweetness (Il Sole 24 Ore).
Regularly invited to serve on the juries of national and international piano competitions, he is the artistic director of the “Città di Casamassima” National Piano Competition, the “Amadeus” Music Association of Casamassima , and the “Giovanni Colafemmina” Study Center in Acquaviva delle Fonti. As principal piano professor at the “N. Piccini” Conservatory in Bari, he has been teaching since the age of eighteen, and his thirty years of experience are attested to by the success of his many students in competitions and concerts. He has led seminars on piano technique and master classes in Bari, Lucera, Borgia, Trani, Vieste, and Marina di Pietrasanta.
They wrote about him: "...Sound and intuitive interpretative reading", "...Matarrese has a nice sound, backed by an excellent technical background", "...A purity of climate, a wealth of ideas that allows him to give consistency and thickness to his own expressive vein".