The Italian Culture Institute will bring award-winning pianist Christian Leotta to perform a recital dedicated to the sonatas of Beethoven at Ilshin Hall in Hannam-dong, Seoul, on Feb. 4.

Leotta is renowned for his vast repertoire, and has received numerous accolades for being the youngest pianist since the youthful Daniel Barenboim to both perform and record the entire corpus of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas.

Leotta will perform Beethoven as part of an East Asia tour that includes stops in Osaka, Hong Kong, Singapore and Jakarta, as well as Korea. 

The concert is free and open to the public. The Italian Embassy recommends reserving seats in advance as Ilshin Hall has seating for only 200.

The Italian Embassy described the concert as a rare opportunity to enjoy the world’s preeminent interpreter of Beethoven.

“(Leotta) is one of the most appreciated and distinguished musicians in the world,” said Luca Da Vito, cultural attache at the Italian Embassy and acting director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Korea.

“This is quite a unique occasion because (Leotta) is really a specialist in Beethoven and brings a deep understanding to his interpretation of Beethoven’s sonatas.”

ATMA Classique signed Christian Leotta in 2007 to record all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in a collection of 10 CDs.

The first four volumes of the series, released from 2008 to 2012 and including 25 piano sonatas, received glowing reviews around the world.

Leotta began studying piano at the age of 7, continuing his studies at the Milan Conservatory under Mario Patuzzi, and is a former pupil of the acclaimed pianist Karl Ulrich Schnabel.

Leotta studied at the Theo Lieven International Piano Foundation and also with Rosalyn Tureck at the Tureck Bach Research Foundation at Oxford. He also studied at the Literature and Philosophy department of Milan State University.

Leotta began his career officially in 2002 at the age of 22 in Montreal where he began performing Beethoven’s piano sonatas.

Contact the Italian Embassy at (02) 796-0634 for more information and to reserve seats.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)