Federico Ercoli
Federico Ercoli is part of the new generation of artists who seek to combine musicological research and musical performance in their career. At ease on historical and modern keyboards, Federico studied harpsichord with Lisa Crawford, fortepiano with Mike Cheng-Yu Lee and piano with Alexander Kobrin, and is further specializing in historically informed performance practice under Paul O’Dette.
He graduated with honors from the Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, studying with Annibale Rebaudengo and Silvia Limongelli. He then continued his studies at the Fondazione Santa Cecilia in Portogruaro, with Alessandro Taverna, and at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola, with Piero Rattalino. Under the latter’s artistic guidance, Federico developed an original approach to the repertoire, expanding his musical research to include historical-critical and aesthetic reflection. In 2020, he obtained a master’s degree in Musicology with top marks and honors from the University of Pavia, Cremona Department, with a thesis on new perspectives on staging Wagner.
Already a winner of several national competitions, in June 2016 he won the First Prize at the Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Andrea Baldi” in Bologna and in 2018 he is among the winners of the Ibla Grand Prize, thanks to which he has the opportunity to perform at the Recital Hall of the V.Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire, at the KIOI Hall in Tokyo and at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2017, he participated in the Gran Galà Armonie della Sera, performing with the Solisti Aquilani the Concerto in D major by J. S. Bach in the Teatro dell’Aquila in Fermo. In the same year, he was chosen as the sole representative of the Milan Conservatory at the International Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan. In 2018, he played the closing recital for the ASAM season at the Teatro Comunale di Siracusa, performing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony transcribed by Franz Liszt. In 2021, he participated in the first performance in modern times of Giovanni Bottesini’s oratorio The Garden of Olivet, playing the symphonic transcription for piano. In 2022 he performed at Kodak Hall in Rochester, NY, with the Eastman Wind Ensemble in the premiere performance of Brad Lubman’s ESM 100.
In 2023, he was awarded the Jerald C. Graue Fellowship by the Eastman School of Music faculty, a prestigious recognition of excellence in musicological research. A devoted teacher with an eye for innovative approaches to piano teaching, he serves as a piano instructor at the Eastman Community Music School and teaches Class Piano at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY. In the same prestigious institution, Federico is currently pursuing a doctorate in the studio of Alexander Kobrin, where he serves as a Teaching Assistant.