Aldo Ciccolini
Aldo Ciccolini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaldo tʃikkoˈliːni]; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.
Aldo Ciccolini
Aldo_Ciccolini.JPG: Ziga derivative work: P. S. Burton (talk) · Aldo_Ciccolini.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1925. · Naples.
- Died
- 2015. · Asnières-sur-Seine.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- pianist, music educator and musician.
- Fields
- classical music.
- Education
- San Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Music.
- Teachers
- Alfred Cortot, Achille Longo, Marguerite Long and Paolo Denza.
- Honours
- Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the National Order of Merit, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Diapason d'Or.
- Languages
- French and Italian.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Aldo Ciccolini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaldo tʃikkoˈliːni]; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.
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Note VALÉORINE
Aldo Ciccolini was music educator, musician and pianist; nationality: France. Aldo Ciccolini was born in 1925, in Naples. Aldo Ciccolini died in 2015 at Asnières-sur-Seine. Education included San Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Music. Among the honours is Commander of the National Order of Merit, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Diapason d'Or.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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- Identity
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2185247 · wikipedia · Aldo Ciccolini
In this article
Biography
Biography
Aldo Ciccolini studied at San Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Music. Training under Alfred Cortot, Achille Longo and Marguerite Long is recorded. Akiko Ebi, Domna Evnouchidou and Apostolos Palios are recorded as having studied under Aldo Ciccolini. The recorded working language is French and Italian. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Employment is recorded with Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse, Conservatoire de Paris and Accademia Lorenzo Perosi. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the National Order of Merit, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres and Diapason d'Or.
Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, whose family bore the title of Marquis in the city of Macerata, worked as a typographer. Aldo Ciccolini took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, with special permission of the director, Francesco Cilea. There he studied piano with Paolo Denza, a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni, and harmony and counterpoint with Achille Longo. He began his performing career playing at the Teatro San Carlo at the age of 16. However, by 1946 he was forced to play in bars to support his family. In 1949, he won, ex-aequo (tied) with Ventsislav Yankov, the Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (among the other prizewinners were Paul Badura-Skoda and Pierre Barbizet). He became a French citizen in 1971 and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1970 to 1988, where his students included Akiko Ebi, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro, Géry Moutier, Nicholas Angelich, André Sayasov and Jean-Luc Kandyoti. Other students included Fabio Mengozzi, Francesco Libetta, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Domenico Piccichè, Ivan Donchev, Mark Bebbington and Jean-Marc Savelli. Ciccolini was a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Erik Satie as well as that of less prominent composers such as Déodat de Séverac, Jules Massenet and Alexis de Castillon. Ciccolini was known for his having played the music of the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, as well as of Franz Liszt. Soprano Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf said of him "I have hardly met a more wonderful partner and a more delightful companion." On 9 December 1999, he celebrated a career in France spanning 50 years with a recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In 2008, he was appointed commander of the French National Order of Merit.
Death
Death
Aldo Ciccolini died on 1 February 2015 at his Paris residence, aged 89.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2015
Aldo Ciccolini died at Asnières-sur-Seine.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Naples.
Birth place
Asnières-sur-Seine.
Death place
Recordings
Ciccolini made more than a hundred recordings for EMI-Pathé Marconi and other record companies, including the complete sonata cycles of Mozart and Beethoven, the complete solo piano work of Debussy and two separate cycles of the complete piano works of Satie. In 2002, Ciccolini was awarded the Diapason d'Or for his recording of the entire solo piano works of Janáček for Abeille Music and of Schumann for Cascavelles. His complete Beethoven sonata cycle was re-published by the Cascavelle label in 2006. He also recorded such unusual repertoire as selections from the Péchés de vieillesse by Rossini and the complete piano music of Massenet.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2185247: Aldo Ciccolini
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Aldo Ciccolini”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Aldo Ciccolini, An Italian Pianist With A French Soul, Dies At Age 89. National Public Radio.
- 2.Millington, Barry. Aldo Ciccolini obituary. The Guardian. 2015-02-16. 0261-3077.
- 3.Piano ma non solo, Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Anagramme Ed., 2012, pg. 79;
- 4.Fabio Mengozzi e Arnaldo De Felice compositori d'oggi. Ilfattoquotidiano.it. 31 July 2018.
- 5.Pasles, Chris. Shared Glory. Los Angeles Times. 2001-07-15. 0458-3035.
- 6.The pianist Aldo Ciccolini has died. Gramophone.
- 7.Aldo Ciccolini on Treccani, the Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts. Treccani.it.
- 8.French piano virtuoso, Aldo Ciccolini, dies aged 89. Yahoo.com.
- 9.Pasternak, Joe Patti, Jill. Remembering the Elegant Pianist Aldo Ciccolini, 1925-2015. Wrti.org. 6 February 2015.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Article on Aldo Ciccolini in French Wikipedia
- Bellamy, Olivier. Courage and silence. Essay included in Aldo Ciccolini: Enregistrements EMI 1950–1991 EMI 2009
References
Citations
References
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authority record
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Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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