Duo Sollini - Barbatano

The Sollini-Barbatano Duo was born in 2004 and has consolidated during the years, after prestigious solo and chamber activities, Marco Sollini and Salvatore Barbatano’s experience who stand out as one of the most appreciated Italian piano duos, even at an International level.

The Duo deals with piano four hand repertoire pages as well as significant works for two pianos, and performs also solo with orchestra. They have played in Italy and abroad for important associations, festivals and in prestigious halls among which: Grosse Saal of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Krakow Philharmonic, Smetana Hall in Prague, Ahmed Adnan Saygun Sanat Merkezi Theatre in Izmir, Manoel Theatre in Malta, Solti Hall at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Saint Petersburg Palaces Festival, Schouwburg Festival in Jakarta, International Music Festival in Santorini, Kur-saal in Bad Wildbad, Interfest in Bitola, Kamerfest in Pristina; furthermore at the Preporodna Hall in Zagabria, at an exclusive concert dedicated to the twenty year anniversary of the Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Croatia and Italy, to the presence of the president of the republic Ivo Josipovic. Also significant are the Italian performances for important concert seasons, among which the Sicilian “Friends of Music Association” in Palermo at the Politeama Palace, Bibiena Theatre in Mantova, Viotti Festival in Vercelli, Alba Music Fest, Amiata Piano Festival, Bari Piano Festival, etc.
They have recorded many times for the Vatican Radio and RAI Radiotre.
In their repertoire appear as well the integral collection of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concertos for two pianos and orchestra, performed and recorded with the OCM conducted by the Maestro Francesco D’Avalos, and also W.A. Mozart’s Concerto for three pianos and orchestra K. 242 “Lodron-Konzert”, performed with I Solisti Veneti Orchestra conducted by Claudio Scimone. The Sollini-Barbatano Duo has also performed Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnaval des aminaux, played with the soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Campania. In 2011 they have performed, in world premiere, The Arabian Nights by Patrizio Marrone, with Ugo Pagliai and Paola Gassman as reciting voices.
The two artists blend their musical experience also in the direction of the International Music Festival “Armonie della sera”, of which Sollini is the creator and the artistic director, while Barbatano is the artistic coordinator. In 2015 the composer and Oscar winner Luis Bacalov wrote and dedicated to the Sollini-Barbatano Duo the track “Tanghitud 4”.
Several important musicians like Michele Dall’Ongaro, Sergio Calligaris, Antonio Giacometti and Patrizio Marrone have dedicated to the Duo their own compositions. The Duo has also recorded several CDs among which one dedicated to Sergej Rachmaninov’s integral collection of compositions for piano four hands; one with chamber musics by Gioachino Rossini, shared with some artists of the La Scala Orchestra in Milan; one dedicated to the music for piano two and four hands by Pietro Mascagni and one with “Shéhérazade” and “Capriccio espagnol” in the original versions of Nicolai Rimskji-Korsakov.
The Sollini-Barbatano Duo has performed solo with several orchestras among which: Malta Philarmonic Orchestra, Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, Euro Sinfonietta, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Sanremo Symphonic Orchestra, I Solisti Aquilani, Symphonic Orchestra Città di Grosseto, Croatian Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti Veneti.
They have also performed the complete Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer op. 52 and op. 65 with the Choir of the Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa.
A CD with the Mozart and Kozeluh Concerts for two pianos and piano 4 hands was published by Sony Classical. In June 2019 the music magazine Suonare News published the CD with the complete Fantasie for piano 4 hands by Franz Schubert.
In the year of Beethoven's 250th anniversary, they released a CD (Sony Classical distribution) with the complete original music for 4 hands piano and the Symphony no. 5 op. 67 in the piano version for 4 hands by Alfredo Casella.
The piano Duo Sollini Barbatano it has been defined by the Russian press "The twenty golden fingers of Italy".