Piano concert - Ettore Pagano & Naoko Sonoda

Winner in the 2025 edition of the prestigious Abbiati Prize awarded by the Italian Music Critics and the influential “Classeek Award” at the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards), Ettore Pagano was born in Rome in 2003, and began studying Cello at the age of nine. A graduate of the Conservatory of S. Cecilia in Rome with honors and honorable mention, he began at an early age an intense concert activity in Italy and abroad, coming to play in institutions of the utmost prestige, including his debut with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, both in the season in Torino with live RAI 5 broadcast, and live RAI 1 broadcast on the 78th anniversary for the Republic Day at the Quirinale in the presence of the Head of State, as well as his very recent debut with the Accadeia Nazionale di S.Cecilia. Since 2013 he has been awarded first prize overall in more than 40 national and international competitions. Japanese-born pianist Naoko Sonoda is a prize-winner of several international piano and chamber music competitions, including those in Argento and Trieste (Italy), as well as the Łódź Competition (Poland). Solo and chamber music concert invitations have taken her throughout Europe, Asia, US and South America and to festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Meckle-Vorpommern and Verbier Festival. Chamber music partners include Santiago Cañón Valencia, Hartmut Rohde, Mark Gothoni, Danjulo Ishizaka, Jens-Peter Maintz, and Andrei Ionita. She has performed with such renowned orchestras as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and has been heard in world-class venues, most notably the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany, Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall in St.Petersburg, Teatro Mayor in Bogota and Carnegie Hall in NY. Ms. Sonoda is in high demand as a collaborative pianist; she received prizes as best collaborative pianist at the International Music Competition in Markneukirchen (2013, 2019 ), the Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw (2015, 2018), and the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition (2015, 2019). Her performances are regularly broadcast on international radio and TV, including Kulturradio RBB, ZDF and BR in Germany, NPO Radio 4 in Netherlands, Radio Romania, NHK-FM in Japan and the BBC.