About
I’m a classical pianist and a mathematician.
Mathematics in more than a hobby for me: I’m assistant professor of Mathematics at university. For many years I had the feeling to live a double life or, more precisely, two parallel lives, being musician “or” mathematician. But I was wrong: it was during my tournée in China in 2019 that I realized how my music was benefiting from teaching mathematics, doing research and giving conferences during international meeting.
For my China tour I was asked to give piano lectures on piano pedagogy in Italy, baroque music and romantic music to piano teachers and to future teachers, with masterclasses. It was surprisingly easy for me to collect the material, organize it, prepare the PP in English and Chinese (at that time I didn’t know any Chinese, and I used the automatic translator and a double check with a mother tongue colleague), choose the right compositions, put significant part of their scores in the PP, and feel comfortable when I went to the piano to give examples by playing. I was more than happy to talk to that special audience, to answer their questions, to give masterclasses to their students, with the teachers attending the masterclasses too.
It was clear to me that the pedagogy process I use when teaching mathematics was a great help to me, as well as the habit of preparing and giving mathematical lectures on my research. Talking to the audience and sharing my knowledge and background should have played an important additional role in my artistic career from that moment on.
When home, I decided to start giving lecture-concerts instead of “simple” concerts whenever possible.
In 2019 my debut CD on Franz Liszt “Les Harmonies de l’Esprit” was already released. It was recorded in September 2018, after almost one year of study, during which I developed an extreme care for the scores: of course, for dynamics, agogic, silence, but also for the idea behind the notes, for the composer’s will and life. Like a story-telling or like the proof of a theorem, in which any step is essential. Therefore, I’m ready to play a composition or to record it only when any part of the score is significant, and when I understood the meaning. Otherwise, how could I be interesting for my audience?
My interpretation follows a “research line” that for sure is influenced by my research in mathematics.
Remy Franck - Pizzicato (2021)
Souveräne Liszt-Interpretationen. Italian pianist Ingrid Carbone plays Liszt with a clear head, finely regulated dynamics, admirably colorful touch and plenty of poetic vision.The music is thus a very serious matter for her, requiring the utmost clarity and transparency in the tonal language, but she allows moods and changes of mood to flow in with great sensitivity. So, the well-shaped interpretations are neither sentimental nor undercooled, but of a remarkable emotional justness. The sound recording is clear and pleasant.
Aart van der Wal - Opus Klassiek (2021)
That is not a question of ‘exactly as it should be’ (that would destroy the imagination after all!), but a completely successful search for the degree of freedom that gives this music new impulses. […] I have carefully assured myself, the score agrees with her.[…] This is no longer a question of just ‘playing beautifully’, but of interpreting from one’s own, carefully constructed musical vocabulary in conjunction with acquired knowledge and expertise.
Glyn Purlsglove - Musicweb International (2020)
But it is certainly a very fine recording – among the very best new recordings of these works that I have heard in recent years. What is compelling about her performances, overall, is the way in which she balances the claims of melody and structure in her playing of these ten short, but pre-eminently mature, pieces. The very least one can – should – say is that Carbone is already a very accomplished pianist of real insight, […] her abilities are clearly not limited to the piano. At the age of 21 she graduated summa cum laude in Mathematics […] Carbone brings to her performances at the piano a mind which ranges beyond music.
PIANO WORK
MASTERCLASSES &
PIANO TEACHING LECTURES
MASTERCLASSES
- National Music Conservatory, Amman, Jordan (2023) – click here to read more
- Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Ramallah branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2023) – Masterclass – Invited by the National Consulate of Italy in Jerusalem – click here to read more
- Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Bethlehem branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2023)- Masterclass – Invited by the National Consulate of Italy in Jerusalem – click here to read more
- Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Ramallah branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2022) – Masterclass – Invited by the National Consulate of Italy in Jerusalem – click here to read more
- Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Bethlehem branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2022)- Masterclass – Invited by the National Consulate of Italy in Jerusalem – click here to read more
- University of Wuhan – Media College, China (2019) – Masterclass and Piano Lectures – Invited by prof. Xu Xiaolu – click here to read more
– check the university website
PIANO TEACHING LECTURES
- University of Wuhan – Media College, China (2019) – Piano concert lectures: “Pedagogy in Italy”, “Baroque Music”, “Romantic Music” – click here to read more – check the university website
CLOSE
LECTURE-CONCERTS
MAIN LECTURE-CONCERTS
- Al-Hussein Cultural Center, Amman, Jordan (2023) – Lecture-recital on Leoncavallo and Liszt – click here to read more
- National Conservatory of Music Edward Said, Ramallah branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2023) – Lecture-concert on Domenico Scarlatti and Ruggiero Leoncavallo – click here to read more
- National Conservatory of Music Edward Said, Bethlehem branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2023) – Lecture-concert on Domenico Scarlatti and Ruggiero Leoncavallo – click here to read more
- National Conservatory of Music Edward Said, Ramallah branch, Birzeit University, West Bank (2022) – Lecture-concert on Franz Liszt’s Après une Lecture du Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata – click here to read more
- General Consulate of Italy and Dante Alighieri Society, Jerusalem, Israel (2022) – Lecture-concert on Franz Liszt’s Après une Lecture du Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Bad Herrenalb, Germany (2021) – Lecture-concert on Liszt’s Légende n. 1: St. François d’Assise “La prédication aux oiseaux”, Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, Après une Lecture du Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata
- Istituto Fondazione Liszt, Bologna, Italy (2020) – Lecture-concert on Schubert’s Six Moments Musicaux op. 94 and Schubert-Liszt’s Erlkoenig and Gretchen am Spinnrade
- Fondazione Roma3Orchestra, Università di Roma 3, Roma, Italy (2019) – Lecture-concert on Liszt’s Liebestraum n. 3, Légende n. 2: St. François de Paule “marchant sur les flots”, Après une Lecture du Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata
CLOSE
CONCERTS
RECITALS
- “David and Yoland Katz Faculty of the Arts”, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel (2019)
- Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków and Italian Institute of Culture, Cracow, Poland (2019)
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Ceremonial Hall, Budapest, Hungary (2017)
- University of Konstanz – Exhibition opening of “Women of Mathematics throughout Europe – A Gallery of Portraits”, Konstanz, Germany (2017)
- Conservatorio Profesional de Musica – Gravina Museum of Fine Arts MUBAG, Alicante, Spain (2016)
- Univerza v Ljubljani – Akademia za glasbo, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2016)
- Technische Universität, Festsaal, Wien, Austria (2016)
WITH STRING ORCHESTRA
- University of Calabria (Italy): Bach concertos BWV 1052 and BWV 1056 (2018)
- Barletta (Italy): Bach concertos BWV 1052 and BWV 1056 (2018)
DUO (VIOLIN-PIANO)
With Eugenio Prete (2007-2015)
- Perugia, Sala dei Notari (2017)
- Barletta (2013)
CHARITY CONCERTS
- “Note di pace per l’Ucraina”, foundraiser for Ukraina through the Red Cross (2022)
- Streaming concert: foundariser for the “Niguarda Hospital” in Milan during the COVID-19 lockdown (2020)
- Streaming concert: foundariser for the “San Francesco Hospital” in Paola (Italy) during the COVID-19 lockdown (2020)
CLOSE
MAIN REVIEWS
MAIN AWARDS&RECOGNITIONS
DISCOGRAPHY
Franz Liszt
–
LES HARMONIES DE L’ESPRIT
LISTEN, BUY, READ THE REVIEWS
Franz Schubert
–
L’ENCHANTEMENT RETROUVÉ
LISTEN, BUY, READ THE REVIEWS
Franz Liszt
–
LE SENTIMENT DE LA NATURE
LISTEN, BUY, READ THE REVIEWS
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
–
POUR PIANO [COMPLETE WORKS]
LISTEN, BUY, READ THE REVIEWS
Franz Liszt
–
CONSOLAZIONE LEGGENDA INVOCAZIONE
LISTEN, BUY, READ THE REVIEWS
SKILLS
TEACHING SKILLS
- Piano lectures
- Concert Lectures
- Piano pedagogy
- Technique for beginners, intermediate and advanced students
- Individual study programs
- Group/class projects
- Annual and multi-year projects
- Lesson plan development
- Collaboration with other faculty members
- Empathy with the students
- Sensitivity for the personality of each student
- Willingness to share knowledge and background
- Impartiality and objectivity
- Creativity
- Interactive teaching
CLOSE
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
- Critical thinking
- Ready to listen other’s opinion
- Empathy
- Sensitivity
- Ease of communication
- Patience
- Punctuality
- Caring
- Reliability
CLOSE
MANAGEMENT SKILLS
- President of the Scientific Library of the University of Calabria (2024-2027) – CHECK OUT SOME OF THE EVENTS ORGANIZED UNDER MY PRESIDENTSHIP
CLOSE
LANGUAGES SKILLS
- Italian: mothertongue
- English: fluent C1
- Russian: beginner A2
- Portugese: beginner A2
- Chinese: beginner A1
CLOSE
About my teachers
During the ten years at the Conservatory of Music of my home town, Cosenza, I had the privilege to attend the classes of outstanding teachers. The value of all the training I was given revealed itself to me over the years, when I could play without any technical difficulty in any context, but especially when I started the study for recording my first CD in 2017 and when I gave piano lectures and masterclasses in China in 2019.
My first teacher, Maria Laura Macario, allowed me to enter her class when I was only 9 years old, although she preferred older students. She had for me a very demanding schedule: she gave me a huge number of homework, that ranged from ‘600 to ‘900 (I still remember Frescobaldi, Schubert and Schoenberg), including a fundamental technique program. She wanted concrete improvements at each lesson. The standard she required was very high and I considered the idea to give up. Fortunately, I resisted. Her great legacy is the study method: it is the same I have always applied and I still apply.
I was in her class for four years, till when she went back to Florence, her home town, and I entered (following her suggestion) the class of Flavio Meniconi, also from Florence and student of the same renowned piano teacher, Giorgio Sacchetti. Flavio Meniconi was demanding too, and the technique and the touch I learned from the first teacher helped me to face more and more difficult and challenging compositions, especially for the touch and the expression they required. When I was his student, I attended my first Summer School with the Italian pianist Sergio Cafaro at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, in Italy. Flavio Meniconi chose for me beautiful compositions, with great care. I owe to him the love for Schubert and Liszt: with him I studied the great Schubert Sonata in A major op. 42 D 845 and the majestic Liszt Funérailles. It cannot be a coincidence if two of my CDs are dedicated to Liszt and one to Schubert.
I was his student for five years, till when he moved to Florence. During my tenth and last year of study I was followed by Francesco Monopoli.
He encouraged me with the study of Composition and pushed me to go further, suggesting me to attend master courses and to apply for national and international competitions, such as the two-year international Master course I attended with the Argentinian pianist Hector Pell, ended with the Honour Diploma and a recital in the Red Hall of the Norman Castle of Barletta (Italy). Hector Pell lived in Rome: when I lived there, due to a two-year grant from the “Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica “F. Severi”, I went very often to his house for musical advices and discussions. At that time Francesco Monopoli stated that I was “his best student” and after more than 20 years, he made the same statement when we were assembled with all the jury of an international competition. He followed me over the years, and gave me the idea to study Bach concertos with string orchestra. I play these concertos with great pleasure and mastery, even if Bach concertos are the most difficult compositions I ever played. I’m grateful to him. During the ten years at the Conservatory, I was also captured by chamber music (I played with a very promising student of violin who is now a professional) and opera. I can say that, when I left the Conservatory, I had a quite wide knowledge of Music.
I went to Florence to attend a masterclass with Lazar Berman, who was living in Italy at that time. Berman was a deep source of inspiration for my Liszt.
In the same period, I went to Rome twice a month to meet the Argentinian pianist and composer Eduardo Ogando, from whom I received advices on chamber music and musical analysis for several years. Duo violin-piano occupies an important part of my musical career, as afterwards I played duo for eight years.
On the occasion of the 2016 edition of the worldwide competition IBLA Grand Price, I attended a masterclass with the Serbian pianist and composer Julija Bal. We worked on Domenico Scarlatti and Villa-Lobos, and the New York IBLA Foundation awarded me the Scarlatti Special Mention.
I studied with Aquile delle Vigne for a long time: I went to his home in Brussels, I attended several masterclasses in Italy and two summer schools. I was part of his group during a Summer School at the Mozarteum of Salzburg, where I was selected to perform Three Fantasiestücke Op. 111 by Schumann during the final concert. I was in his group also at the Tel–Hai International Piano Master Classes in Israel, where I attended another summer school with the Polish pianist Andrzej Pikul and received advices from the Israeli pianist Emanuel Krasovsky and the English pianist Ronan H’Ora. The faculties were “impressed” by my interpretation of some Schubert-Liszt transcriptions, especially Erlkönig. Aquiles delle Vigne suggested me to study the Liszt’s masterpieces Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata, Lègende n. 2: St. François de Paule: marchant sur les flots, Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, considered among the most beautiful and difficult of the piano repertoire. All these compositions are contained in my two Liszt CDs.
But I must say that I owe a lot to Cristiano Burato. It was his pressure to start again with soloist repertoire after many years of duo violin-piano that persuaded me to take back my artistic career. Listening to my performance in duo with violin, he said that I had absolutely to dedicate myself to the soloist repertoire. During the several masterclasses I attended with him, I was overwhelmed by ideas, suggestions, advices I absorbed as a sponge, eager as I was to make up for lost time. He took care of my touch and my repertoire, focusing on compositions in which I could express my ideas and tools, and proposing me more and more difficult compositions: the Six Moments Musicaux op. 94, one of which goes back to my first year at the Conservatory of Music, and the Four Impromptus op. 90 by Schubert, recorded 2020, are his suggestions, as well as Consolations: Six Pensées Poétiques by Liszt, contained in my debut CD, and Vallée d’Obermann (contained in my second CD on Liszt).
In conclusion, I think I learned from my teachers how to be a good teacher.
CONTACT
AFFILIATION
University of Calabria
86036 Arcavacata di Rende (Cosenza)
Italy
Tel. +39 0984 496425