Francesca Orlando

Piano

Born in Florence, Francesca Orlando is a British-Italian pianist who has performed internationally both as a soloist and chamber musician across many European cities including London, Copenhagen, Budapest, Malta, Florence and Rome. Since her debut recital in Florence, at the age of fourteen, she has performed extensively in acclaimed concert venues such as the Wigmore Hall, St James’ Piccadilly, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, St George’s Hall Bristol and as soloist with Exeter University Symphony Orchestra, Bristol Symphony Orchestra and ‘Orchestra Filharmonica Mediterranea’. She has been performed in numerous music festivals across England including Petworth Music Festival, Bloomsbury Festival, Farley Festival and Dartington International Summer School as duo partner with renowned pianist Steven Osborne.

In 2021 Francesca received first prize in ‘Premio Crescendo’, Florence and Concorso Internazionale “Cittá di Massa” as well as being a Jury member of ‘Concorso Nazionale per Giovani Musicisti’, Bardolino. In April 2022 Francesca was a finalist of the prestigious song competition, Kathleen Ferrier Awards held in the Wigmore Hall, where she performed with bass-baritone Charles Cunliffe.

Francesca was awarded an Open-Academy Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music, where she completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in solo piano performance under the tutelage of Prof. Joanna MacGregor and Diana Ketler respectively. During her undergradutate studies she was a recipient of the Miriam Duncan Scholarship. Since 2020 Francesca has continued her studies under the tutelage of Nicholas Walker. She currently resides in Vienna doing a postgraduate diploma with acclaimed pianist Lilya Zilberstein as well as receiving regular masterclasses with Eliso Virsaladze in Fiesole, Italy. She has performed in numerous masterclasses to renowned pianists such as Imogen Cooper, Pascal Devoyon, Martino Tirimo, Ian Fountain, Stephen Hough and Steven Osborne.

Francesca is a passionate advocate for quality music education and in making classical music more accessible within the community. Francesca founded a voluntary organization called ‘Musica Vitae’ whose aim is to provide young musicians with performing opportunities by organising concerts in aid of charity. Through her Fellowship she worked on various musical outreach projects ranging from participants living with dementia to children with SEN in collaboration with arts organisations such as Wigmore Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival and Spitalfields Music.

©Andrej Grilc Photo