beatrice rana
PIANO
“This young Italian pianist demonstrated why she is increasingly seen as one of the most insightful and prodigiously gifted artists of the new generation.”
Beatrice Rana has been shaking the international classical music world, arousing admiration and interest from concert presenters, conductors, critics and audiences internationally.
Beatrice performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, KKL Lucerne, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich’s Isarphilharmonie, Prinzregententheater and Herkulessaal, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zurich, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Milan’s Società dei Concerti, Lucerne Festival, BBC Proms, Ferrara Musica, Verbier Festival, Rheingau Festival, Bad Kissinger Sommer, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Lugano’s LAC, Stresa Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Bucarest Enescu Festival, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Celebrity Series, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Hall and Hollywood Bowl, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.
She collaborates with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Manfred Honeck, Klaus Mäkelä, Gianandrea Noseda, Jaap van Zweden, Lahav Shani, Jakub Hrusa, Riccardo Chailly, Paavo Järvi, Gustavo Gimeno, Fabio Luisi, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Jurowski, Dima Slobodeniouk, James Gaffigan, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Ryan Bancroft, Susanna Mälkki and Zubin Mehta.
Beatrice is the guest of such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre de Paris, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, Filarmonica della Scala, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchester and the St Petersburg Philharmonic.
In the 2024/25 season, Beatrice will be artist in residence at Paris’ Radio-France. The residency will involve a recital at the Auditorium de Radio France and several concerts and tours with both in-house orchestras, the Orchestre National de France and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and their music directors Cristian Macelaru and Mikko Frank. She will also return to the New York Philharmonic with Marek Janowski, the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Gianandrea Noseda, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck and debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Alain Altinoglu.
Beatrice Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics. In 2015, her first album featuring Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.2 and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia di Roma received international acclaim including the prestigious Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year Award. The year 2017 will remain a milestone in her career with the release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The recording was praised by reviewers worldwide and was crowned by two major awards: “Young Artist of the Year” at the Gramophone Awards and “Discovery of the year” at the Edison Awards. In June 2018, she was chosen as Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall for her recording of the Bach. Beatrice also recorded Bernstein Symphony No.2 ‘Age of Anxiety’ as part of Antonio Pappano’s recording of the composer’s complete symphonies, which also garnered her high critical acclaim. Her latest solo album was released in October 2019, featuring works by Stravinsky and Ravel and was awarded several top prizes including Diapason d’Or de l’Année and Choc de l’Année Classica in France. A Chopin album was released in September 2021 and also received many awards. In 2023 Beatrice presented her 5th album featuring Clara and Robert Schumann’s concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Her latest album, released in 2024, is dedicated to 2 « monuments » of the 19th century, Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata and Chopin’s 2nd sonata « Funeral March ».
In June 2013, Beatrice Rana won Silver (2nd Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn competition. She had attracted international attention at 18, winning 1st Prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011. Born into a family of musicians Beatrice began her musical studies at four and achieved her Piano Degree under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, where she also studied composition with Marco della Sciucca. She then studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.
“Beatrice Rana set a new standard. She made the Chopin sound as poetic and colorful as anything he ever wrote. Her playing was refined and soft-spoken in its brilliance throughout. She had the audience rapt.”
“Beatrice Rana, 26, has ferocious technique but is distinguished by her musical intelligence.”
“One of the outstanding pianists of her generation.”
“An excellent, probing young pianist.”
“Beatrice Rana set a new standard. She made the Chopin sound as poetic and colorful as anything he ever wrote. Her playing was refined and soft-spoken in its brilliance throughout. She had the audience rapt.”
“All the virtuosic flair that you’d expect, but never for its own sake … An uncommon sensitivity of touch … her Chopin always intrigued. One to watch..”
“Beatrice Rana possesses an old soul that belies her twenty years, and more than a touch of genius.”
Gramophone Magazine
“An artist one will want to keep an ear on.”
“There’s something of Martha Argerich about the way she combines chunky articulation and sparkling clarity with whimsical touches.”
“The remarkable pianist Beatrice Rana is an artist of truly reflective grace … combining poetry and great skill, among the most gifted musicians of her generation.”
“There has been a lot of star-is-born noise around Beatrice Rana, and it might be justified. Teamed with Antonio Pappano and his Accademia di Santa Cecilia orchestra, she is a compelling storyteller: her playing has all the sustained force and perfectly weighted brilliance you could want, but has a glint in its eye, too.”
“Beatrice Rana displays playing of preternatural sensitivity, sophistication and control, along with a touch of magic, as Bach’s theme returns at the end.”
“[She has] a calm stillness that betokens perfectly relaxed technique and allows her to bring out the innate intelligence of her musical personality.”
“Truly astounding … among the most faultless of young pianists today.”
“In a word? Beatrice Rana is fierce! And not only as a pianist but as a fully developed artist of a stature that belies her tender years… I can’t think of another recent concerto release that, beginning to end, affords greater pleasure.”
“Beatrice Rana is well on her way to the top echelon of pianists in the world.”
“She brought unerring grace to Mozart’s seemingly effortless, melodic inspiration and floated Mozartean figurations with lyric ease. In the slow movement [of the Jeunehomme concerto], which reveals depth of feeling through harmonic experimentation, Rana didn’t make the mistake of overdramatizing. And she demonstrated that the impetuous return to high spirits in the last movement really does belong to the young.”
“Many pianists wait until late into their careers to exorcise the spirit of Glenn Gould and tackle Bach’s daunting Goldberg Variations, but the Italian pianist Beatrice Rana was only 23 when she recorded them last year. Rana has been hailed as a future star in the vein of Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires, and she more than proves her mettle with this well-paced and narratively cogent rendition.”
“This album features the rising pianist in early 20th-century bravura pieces, which showcase her super-swift scale runs, dramatic firepower and airy grace. All are present in her rendering of Ravel’s “La Valse,” whose whirling, Viennese-style waltz theme gradually becomes fragmented and unhinged. Interpretively, the best performances here are Ravel’s atmospheric five-piece suite “Miroirs,” particularly “Une barque sur l’océan,” where Ms. Rana conjures a wonderful sense of motion, and Guido Agosti’s piano transcription of three sections from Stravinsky’s ballet masterpiece, “The Firebird.” In her hands, the ferociously fast rhythms of the Infernal Dance crackle with energy and momentum. The Berceuse, a lullaby, moves from dreamy and calming to enervating. The triumphant Finale has color and grandeur.”