Manila Santini

Manila Santini has been described as a musician that combines a fiery temperament and a solid technique with an extraordinary sensitivity and a charismatic stage presence.

Praised by the audience for her expressive force and brilliant virtuosity she has gained critical acclaim for her natural and elegant phrasing, her great sense for the line together with a warm and full quality of sound.

She has performed in some of the most prestigious European Concert Halls including the Wiener Saal of the Mozarteum (Salzburg), the De Doelen Juriaanse Saal (Rotterdam), the Salone de’ Cinquecento of Palazzo Vecchio (Florence), the Salle Gothique de L’hotel de Ville (Brussels), the Paganini Auditorium (Parma), the Teatro Alighieri (Ravenna), the Teatro Municipale (Piacenza), the Teatro Regio (Parma). She has also appeared at numerous Music Festivals such as the Festival Gergiev and The Operadagen in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), the Ravenna Festival (Italy), the Festival Verdi 2010 and 2012 in Parma (Italy).

Manila was born in Rimini (Italy) and has been dedicated to music from the age of five. After graduating summa cum laude at the Conservatory of Pescara she continued her musical traininig with professors Roberto Cappello, Aquiles Delle Vigne, Alfredo Speranza and Piernarciso Masi. She obtained a Master’s Degree at the Hoogeschool voor Muziek an Dans in Rotterdam and she postgraduated at the Parma Conservatory.

From an early age she has won awards in numerous national and international piano competitions. In 2004 she was selected to participate at the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia where she obtained the special prize “Encouragement Award” and in 2011 she gained the 3rd prize at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition “Premio Zanfi” (Parma). In the same year she took part at the Liszt, the Progressive project, in collaboration with the Joseph Haydn Conservatory in Eisenstadt (Austria) during which she performed works of the Hungarian Composer at the Musik Hochschule fur Musik und der Tanzfakultat of Bratislava and in the Konzertsaal of the Joseph Haydn Konservatorium.

A devoted Chamber musician, Manila collaborated with such artists as Francesco Manara, Simonide Braconi and Alessandro Serra, concertmaster, principal violist and principal double-bass at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan, Emmanuele Baldini, Concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and saxophonists Mario Marzi and Federico Mondelci. She also has an intense concert activity of piano duo and recently she performed the Liszt transcription for two pianos of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony during the opening concert of the Parma Liszt Festival and the Carl Orff Carmina Burana for soloists, choir, two pianos and percussion at the Paganini Auditorium in Parma.

“Solid technique, plenty of temper and quality of sound”  – La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno

“A notable music talent” – Bresciaoggi

“Strong musicality and full dominium of the technique” – La Gazzetta di Parma

The young italian pianist Manila Santini has been described as a musician that combines a fiery temperament and a solid technique with an extraordinary sensitivity and a charismatic stage presence.

Praised by the audience for her expressive force and brilliant virtuosism she has gained critical acclaim for her natural and elegant phrasing, her great sense of the line together with a warm and full quality of sound.

Awarded in numerous national and international piano competitions Manila has an intense concert activity both as soloist as well as chamber musician which has led her to perform in many of the most prestigious European concert halls