From March 21 to 26, 2026, the first edition of VeneziaPianoFestival charts a new musical journey through Venice and brings a new generation of performers to the city
From the Premio Venezia, the historic national piano competition promoted by the Fondazione Amici della Fenice, comes VeneziaPianoFestival, a young and international festival dedicated to emerging pianists. With a format open to diverse audiences, the Sale Apollinee of Teatro La Fenice, the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco host an itinerary between music and architecture that centers on the talents of tomorrow.
The project for the first Venetian piano festival was conceived by the Fondazione Amici della Fenice chaired by Maria Camilla Bianchini d’Alberigo, whom we interviewed:
“The idea of a festival in Venice was born when, after the forty-first edition of Premio Venezia, the advisory committee and I asked ourselves: why stop here? And so we thought of a piano festival, as a gift to the city, because Venice has never had a festival entirely dedicated to the piano, and for our great love for the young talents who emerge from Premio Venezia.
Reserved for graduates of Italian conservatories with top marks and under twenty-four years of age, Premio Venezia has represented for over forty years one of the first decisive steps for pianists at the beginning of their journey. It accompanies young performers’ entry onto the public stage, offering them high-profile listening opportunities and integrating them into a network of artistic and institutional relationships.”
The Fondazione Amici della Fenice has been active in Venice since the 1980s in supporting Teatro La Fenice and young performers. With this festival, a further step is taken in promoting music in Venice.
“VeneziaPianoFestival is part of a reflection on the city’s role in European musical life: Venice has a profound musical history, a network of theaters, institutions, and spaces that continue to shape the city’s cultural life.
In this context, the festival aims to strengthen Venice’s role as a city of the piano, creating a network of collaboration among artists, institutions, and supporters.
Can you tell us about the performers and the connection with the world of education?
The pianists invited to the festival come from Premio Venezia and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, creating a dialogue between the national and international spheres. The value of the festival also lies in offering young performers a concrete goal, encouraging them to prepare and accompanying them as they begin to build a relationship with the audience.
The young performers come from competitions that are reference points for the training and emergence of new piano talents: Giacomo Menegardi, Gianluca Bergamasco, Alexander Gadjiev, Elia Cecino come from recent editions of Premio Venezia. The young Antonii Baryshevskyi and Sandro Nebieridze are among the finalists of the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition in Bolzano.
The pianists have the opportunity to get to know each other off stage. For us, this is an important aspect of the project: the festival fosters the development of relationships among institutions, educational spaces, and musicians, creating a context of encounter, knowledge, and exchange that can be decisive in the early stages of a career.”
The festival connects a new generation of pianists with three highly significant venues in Venetian cultural life. What does it mean to organize a distributed festival in Venice, and how did the collaboration with these venues develop?
“We Amici della Fenice are convinced that collaboration among cultural institutions is extremely important: the Foundation collaborates with the Venice Conservatory, which hosts rehearsals during the festival, and with organizations such as the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, with which it organizes summer concerts. The choice of venues is a curatorial choice: the piano enters three different Venetian architectural spaces and finds a particular resonance in each.
Creating a distributed festival is an idea developed by our committee. In addition to the Sale Apollinee of Teatro La Fenice, we considered the two Scuole Grandi. The Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista was already home to a Friends of Music circle.
For the Scuola Grande San Rocco, we wanted the concert in the Sala del Capitolo, and this meant carrying a piano to the first floor. We reached a solution thanks to Fazioli, the festival’s technical partner, which accepted the great responsibility of carrying the piano by hand.
The result is an experience that will be memorable for the pianists, capable of leaving a mark on their journey.”
The Program
With this first edition, Venezia Piano Festival inaugurates a path destined to grow over time, giving continuity to the dialogue among young pianists, Venetian heritage, and new audiences. The festival program is the result of work guided by a scientific committee composed of president Camilla Bianchini d’Alberigo, music critic Carla Moreni, and music historian Paolo Pinamonti.
The fil rouge of the 2026 edition is the music of Frédéric Chopin: each pianist includes one or more pieces by the composer in their repertoire, creating a continuity that accompanies the audience throughout the festival.
Saturday, March 21, 7 PM
Sale Apollinee, Teatro La Fenice
Antonii Baryshevskyi
Sunday, March 22, 7 PM
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
Giacomo Menegardi
Monday, March 23, 7 PM
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
Gianluca Bergamasco
Tuesday, March 24, 7 PM
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Sandro Nebieridze
Wednesday, March 25, 7 PM
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Alexander Gadjiev
Thursday, March 26, 7 PM
Sale Apollinee, Teatro La Fenice
Elia Cecino
VeneziaPianoFestival
March 21–26, 2026
Concerts begin at 7 PM
Tickets for VeneziaPianoFestival concerts are available on the dedicated page at Veneziaunica.it.
The Amici della Fenice Foundation has been dedicated for over 40 years to promoting Teatro La Fenice and increasing interest in its programs, through publishing activities, conferences, and exhibitions. Since 1984, it has promoted young artistic talents by establishing the Premio Venezia piano competition.
Article by Laura Scarpa. Photos courtesy of the festival’s press office.
