Antonio Pompa-Baldi

In 1998 Pompa-Baldi received the 3rd Prize at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, France. He also received the special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work written for the competition ("Tumultes" by Serge Nigg). In 1999 he won the first prize in the Cleveland International Piano Competition, which lead to over 450 concert engagements within two years. In 2001 Pompa-Baldi won a silver medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001 in addition to the special prize for the best performance of a new work ("Three Impromptus" by Lowell Liebermann). He also won the most prize money. His performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 (Op. 26) with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and James Conlon in the final round was described by Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News as "kinetically dramatic, almost savage in some of its more forceful passages but lovingly caressed in its more lyric moments", while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described it as "the most spectacular moment of the week".

Pompa-Baldi was born to a non-musical family in Foggia, Italy. When he was about three years old, his parents stumbled upon a television broadcast of a performance of a piano concerto, and Pompa-Baldi, captivated, started "playing on the table". Shortly after, his parents gave him a toy piano, where he taught himself to play some tunes by ear. He began formal piano lessons at the age of four with Vittorio Sannoner, and at fourteen, won a string of competition awards in Italy. In 1993, Pompa-Baldi graduated from the Umberto Giordano Conservatory of Foggia, and afterwards moved to Napoli, where he began studies with Annamaria Pennella. He also studied for about 18 months with Aldo Ciccolini, and also served as his assistant. Pompa-Baldi also studied with Paul Badura-Skoda, Bruno Canino, and Jörg Demus.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi (born December 1, 1974) is an Italian-American pianist. Described by Donald Rosenberg of The Plain Dealer as "a musician of myriad superlative qualities" and by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times as a "a poised, assured player with a solid technique", Pompa-Baldi won the first prize in the 1999 Cleveland International Piano Competition. He was also a prizewinner of the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition and the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Pompa-Baldi continues to regularly perform internationally as a recitalist, as a chamber musician, and as a soloist with such orchestras as the Boston Pops, Houston Symphony, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker, and the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France under such conductors as Hans Graf, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Theodore Kuchar. Additionally, Pompa-Baldi currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music and as honorary guest professor and visiting professor at three universities in China, including the China Conservatory of Music.

Pompa-Baldi records for Centaur Records, the Steinway & Sons label, and Brilliant Classics. His discography consists of more than 30 CDs. For Centaur Records, he recorded the entire piano output of Edvard Grieg, the Josef Rheinberger piano sonatas Opp. 47, 99. and 135, an all-Schumann album, an all-Rachmaninoff album, and Hummel piano sonatas. He also recorded an all-Brahms album for Azica, and is featured on a Harmonia Mundi CD of live performances from the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. For the Steinway label, he recorded a CD of songs by Francis Poulenc, which he arranged, as well as Edith Piaf, elaborated for piano solo by the Italian composer Roberto Piana. A second Steinway label CD, titled "Napoli", features classic Neapolitan songs in the form of Improvisations elaborated by Roberto Piana. Additionally, for the Steinway label, Pompa-Baldi recorded three piano sonatas of Mozart. Pompa-Baldi is also one of the most prolific recording artists for the Steinway & Sons Spirio catalogue.