Aldo Ciccolini

Aldo Ciccolini (15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.

Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerata, worked as a typographer. Aldo Ciccolini took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, with special permission of the director, Francesco Cilea. There he studied piano with Paolo Denza, a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni, and harmony and counterpoint with Achille Longo.

He began his performing career playing at the Teatro San Carlo at the age of 16. However, by 1946 he was forced to play in bars to support his family. In 1949, he won, ex-aequo (tied) with Ventsislav Yankov, the Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (among the other prizewinners were Paul Badura-Skoda and Pierre Barbizet). He became a French citizen in 1971 and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1970–88, where his students included Akiko Ebi, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro, Géry Moutier, Nicholas Angelich, André Sayasov and Jean-Luc Kandyoti. Other students included Fabio Mengozzi, Francesco Libetta, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Domenico Piccichè, Ivan Donchev and Jean-Marc Savelli.