Donna Amato
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Donna Amato (born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist. She teaches at University of Pittsburgh.[1]
Life
Amato's early piano studies included renowned teacher and virtuoso, Ozan Marsh. In the early 1980s, Amato traveled to Europe to study with Louis Kentner, in London and with Gaby Casadesus, in Paris. She also received a scholarship to play for Guido Agosti's masterclass series in Siena, Italy with a Diploma d'Onore. She studied in Mexico with Angelica Morales von Sauer, leading to concert appearances throughout Mexico as well as additional performances in many European countries, the United States, and radio broadcasts on the BBC.[2]
She records on the Altarus Records label. Recently, Amato has been undertaking the music of Kaikhosru Sorabji; in addition to giving the first ever performance of a Sorabji piano concerto (no. 5, in Utrecht, Netherlands, with Netherlands Radio Orchestra conducted by Ed Spanjaard), she premièred Sorabji's Piano Symphony No. 5, "Symphonia Brevis" in New York in 2004 and, in April 2011, her recording of this work on the Altarus label was released and is the first ever commercial recording of one of Sorabji's symphonies for piano solo.
Amato has also been performing the works of Ethelbert Nevin, composer from her hometown of Edgeworth Pennsylvania. She has compiled a list of Nevin's works and has performed them both in the studio and live in performances in her home town.