International Piano Academy Lake Como

The International Piano Academy Lake Como is a piano academy. Seven pianists, chosen annually from a worldwide field of over 1000 applicants including many international prizewinners, have the opportunity of studying with a faculty whose core membership past and present includes such stellar artists as Dmitri Bashkirov, Boris Berman, Malcolm Bilson, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Leon Fleisher, Fou Ts'ong, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Graham Johnson, Stephen Kovacevich, William Grant Naboré, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, Charles Rosen, Andreas Staier, as well as the late Alicia de Larrocha, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Rosalyn Tureck, and Alexis Weissenberg.

These distinguished artists come for approximately a week at a time and give daily private tuition and master classes to the fortunate seven students. The International Piano Academy Lake Como was founded in April 2002 in order to continue and strengthen the teaching tradition of the International Piano Foundation "Theo Lieven". Due to the extraordinary faculty invited to teach and the exceptional talents admitted to the school, the International Piano Academy Lake Como has imposed itself as one of the major piano academies in the world in its ten years of activity.

Despite the name, the atmosphere is more familial than that of an academy, and communal rather than competitive. The Academy is housed in a beautiful 17th century palazzo overlooking Lake Como. Away from the pressures of the outside world, students are able to learn and work in a relaxed, stimulating and contemplative environment. Here they receive inspiration, opportunities and guidance in every aspect of concert and artistic life, including chamber music, accompaniment, physiology (the treatment/prevention of occupational injuries) and piano technique.

Thanks to generous funding by private sponsors, tuition, lodging, expenses, and practice facilities are entirely free of charge.

Administration

President of Honor: Martha Argerich
President and Artistic Director: William Grant Naboré
Vice President: Turid Hjelmstad Johansen Prestinari

Location and facility

The majestic Palazzo del Vescovo (Palace of the Bishop) was erected by the family of the Marquis Cossoni in the 17th century. In 1854 Carlo Romanò, the Bishop of Como, acquired the building from the heirs of the family Cossoni.

In 1983 the Town of Dongo purchased the building, and with the financial help of the Comunità Montana Alto Lario Occidentale, the citizens of Dongo embarked on a complete restoration of the Palazzo.

Today the building, which still retains its former name, houses the Civic Institute of Music "Alto Lario" and, since December 2003, the International Piano Academy Lake Como.

Some notable graduates of the Theo Lieven Piano Foundation and the International Piano Academy Lake Como

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