The inaugural Ciccolini Competition for pianists was held at the beginning of the year – and of course was ‘virtual’ because of lockdowns. The jury, appointed by the Ciccolini Foundation as sponsors and organizers of the competition, made two awards, to the overall winner and runner-up, including a sponsored debut recording to be released by Divine Art; the programs for the recordings have now been determined and are listed below. The recordings are to be made in southern Italy, probably in Trani or Foggia as soon as relaxation of Covid lockdowns allows. The Company CEO Stephen Sutton says: “We are obviously very keen to move forward with these recordings, and eagerly await news of the sessions, but safety is paramount, especially as one winner will be travelling from Ukraine.”

Winner of the First Prize is 24-year-old Ukranian Violetta Fialko. Violetta entered the Lysenko Music School in Kiev at the age of 9, graduating in 2016 to enter the Kiev Conservatory where she is currently studying for her Master’s degree. She has participated in many competitions often winning first prize (Olympiad Voice of the Century, Golden Time (UK)) and performs as both soloist and chamber musician. She hosts a classical music program on the Emannuel station and is currently working at the Academy of Musical Arts in Kiev and the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, an interdenominational school in Kiev.

Violetta’s program includes her two winning competition pieces. It is a well-balanced set of pieces in the Russian Romantic and post-Romantic traditions, an exhilarating and demanding program. (Details below)

Second prize was awarded to the young Italian pianist Gabriele Micheli, who is 22. Like Violetta he also gained admittance to a music school at 9, this time to the Conservatoria Santa Cecilia in Rome. Graduating with honours in 2017 he then went on to obtain his Master’s degree also at Santa Cecilia in 2020. He has won many international competitions and has contributed to concerts and festivals in Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark and Germany so far.

Gabriele chose a program which presents keyboard music from different eras: the baroque, Romantic and 20^th Century. (Details below)

To provide a special home for these talented artists and those who follow in subsequent competitions, Divine Art is creating a new ‘Debut’ series, purely for Ciccolini Prize Winners.

Album details:

Violetta Fialko

Divine Art DBU 20211

• Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op, 30
• Nikolai Medtner:  Piano Sonata “Reminiscenza”, Op. 38 No. 1
• Sergei Prokofiev: 10 Pieces from “Romeo and Juliet”, Op. 75
• Anatoly Lyadov: Prelude, Op. 11 No. 1
• Anatoly Lyadov: ‘Biyul’ki’, Op, 2

Gabriele Micheli

Divine Art DBU 20212

• Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in A minor, K. 217
• Johannes Brahms: Theme with Variations in D minor, Op. 18b
• Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Books 1 & 2, Op. 35
• Franz Liszt: Réminiscences de Norma, S. 394
• Maurice Ravel : La valse