Mauro Zappala

Mauro Filippo Zappalà, born in Catania in 1993, started studying the piano at the age of 4. In 2004 he began attending the “Istituto Musicale Vincenzo Bellini” in Catania, in the class of Gabriella Cosentino. He continued his study with Cristina Zago, and earned a BA diploma ‘Cum Laude’ in Piano Performance in 2014. In 2016 he earned a MA diploma ‘Magna cum Laude’ in Piano Performance under the lead of Giulia Gangi, having presented at his final exam a full program of Beethoven, including the Third Concerto, Op. 37, in C minor; accompanied by the Orchestra Giovanile Bellini conducted by Giuseppe Romeo.

Since 2018, Mauro has been a student of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts pursuing a second MA, in Lied Accompaniament, in the class of Charles Spencer.

He took part in national and international competitions, and was awarded numerous prizes (in Palermo, Comiso, Villarosa, Siracusa). In addition, he attended several masterclasses held by Igor Petrin, Federico Gianello, Helmut Deutsch, Aquilles Delle Vigne, and Homero Francesch (who offered Mauro a scholarship in order to attend the summer course with him in Switzerland, ‘Lenk im Simmenthal’, in August 2014), Gajusz Kęska, Paul Badura-Skoda, Violetta Egorova, Carlos Cebro and Duo Miroirs.

In the academic year 2015/16, he attended, as part of an Erasmus project, two semesters at the “Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie” in Poland, under the direction of Gajusz Kęska and Lech Napierała. In 2017 he won the prize “Giovani Eccellenze Sicliane” by the “Rotary Catania Etna Centenario” and the “Premio Simona Savino”, playing a program including Bach’s First Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, accompanied by the Orchestra Giovanile Mondo Musicale, conducted by Federico Toscano. In July 2018, he attended the masterclass “Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum”, in Husum, Germany, and was awarded the “Theodor Storm Klavierpreis”.

He has played extensively as a soloist, with orchestras, as a vocal accompanist, and in chamber music ensembles in different major halls in Europe, among which the Wigmore Hall in London, and at the Mozarthaus and the Gläsenersaal of the Musikverein in Vienna.