Fabio Martino began playing his grandmother’s piano at the age of 5; she was a piano teacher in Sao Paulo.

Seventeen years later – after intensive training at leading universities of music in Brazil and Germany – Fabio Martino bought his first Steinway grand piano after receiving the first prize at the BNDES International Piano Competition, the most important competition in Latin America. Since then Fabio Martino has won more than 20 first prizes in piano competitions all around the world.

Fabio Martino doesn’t draw in the audience only with his virtuoso playing; but also thrills them with his South American charm. The piano shooting star is viewed as a cheeky but at the same time open challenger on the international pianist scene. He wears his hand-tiedbow tie like a trademark. The incredible musical versatility is also evident in his extensive discography. Two new albums were released in 2019: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto Nr. 1 with Dan Ettinger and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra (Hänssler Classic), and “Latin Soul”, his third solo CD with powerful piano music full of joie de vivre and radiant sounds by composers from Latin America. The recording of this co-production with German radio SWR has received great attention worldwide and climbed the charts after a short time on the market being listed Nr. 2 in the “Top Album Classics” on iTunes South America. This CD received only top grades and numerous awards as “CD of the month” from leading magazines such as Piano News, Klassik-Heute, Limelight, International Piano Magazin, among others.

As an international soloist Fabio Martino has played not only the well-known piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Prokofjew, Bartók and many others, but also the rare played works by  Medtner, Villa-Lobos, Mignone and Guarnieri, with equally success and enthusiasm from the audience.

After a tour in 2019 through several cities in Northern Germany with the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra, the press wrote: “Tchaikovsky´s Piano Concerto Nr. 1 – as if made for Fabio Martino, the pianist with furious technique and musical sensitivity”. 2020 started just as furiously and musically in Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg with two completely sold out New Year´s concerts playing Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin and Fantasia Brasileira by Mignone. The calendar would have consisted of many other highlights, e.g. concerts at Sala Verdi in Milan, the Opera house in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as well as Herkulessaal in Munich, had it not been for Corona.

During the lockdown, Fabio Martino started his own project. Under the title “Fabio Martino @ HOME” he organized livestream concerts every week with invited artists which were broadcast from his home. Whether with singers, flutists, clarinetists, bassoonists, strings, as a duo or trio, he proved his joy, versatility and enthusiasm for chamber music and reached audiences worldwide even in difficult times.

Martino also showed his ability and his special stage presence in various film and TV productions as well as live recordings amongst others for the SWR, BR, NDR, TV Globo and the BBC. In March 2020 he recorded the new music for the silent film “Beethoven” together with the Thüringer Philharmonic Orchestra on behalf of ARTE and ZDF. Critics already mention Fabio Martino in the same breath as Claudio Arrau, Nelson Freire, Martha Argerich,  Sviatoslav Richter and even link him with Vladimir Horowitz.

www.fabiomartino.de