Orazio Maione

Orazio Maione was born in Naples, Italy in 1962. At the age of seventeen he graduated with highest honors from the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory under the tutelage of his mother Anna Maria Pennella, a pupil of Marguerite Long and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

His teachers have included Nikita Magaloff at the Geneva Conservatory and Aldo Ciccolini at the Ravel Academy (Cote Basque), both of whom considered him among the best musical talents of his generation.  Prize winner of several prestigious national and international competitions (Osimo, “Muzio Clementi” in Florence, Senigallia, "Rina Sala Gallo" in Monza, “Franz Listz” in Sopron), he had his Teatro San Carlo debut in Naples in 1982.  He was subsequently invited to perform at some of the most important concert societies in Italy, including "Accademia Filarmonica” and Istituzione Universitalia Concerti in Rome, Società del Quartetto and Verdi Orchestra in Milan (G. Noseda, cond.), Amici della Musica in Perugia and Palermo, Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese and Società Barattelli in L'Aquila, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova (P. Maag. cond.), and Teatro Palestrina in Cagliari.

In 1986 he was awarded First Prize at the third International Piano
Competition in Pretoria, South Africa and followed with performances in Europe (Louvre Museum, Paris and Chatelet Theatre, London) as well as in Israel, Canada, and the United States of America.

He has given master classes at the Summit Music Festival in New York State, Leiria and Aveiro Conservatories (Portugal), Granada and Malaga Conservatories (Spain), International Campus in Taormina (Sicily) and at the International Academy of Music in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (Tuscany).

He has recorded for multiple radio and television stations and has been featured on CDs for IMP Classic England where he appeared as soloist with the European Community Chamber Orchestra (E. Aadland, cond.) and for Suonare Records Twenty-Seven Chopin Etudes.  In November 2017, the Naxos label released an album by Maione dedicated to the piano works of Franco Alfano.  He also published, in 2005, a text on the Italian conservatories of music during the Fascist era (EDT, Turin).

Maione, an official ‘Steinway Artist’ since 2014, currently lives in Rome, Italy and works as Professor of Piano at Conservatorio Francesco Morlacchi in Perugia.