Aldo Ciccolini

Aldo Ciccolini took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, with special permission of the director, Francesco Cilea.

In 1949, he won, ex-aequo (tied) with Ventsislav Yankov, the Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (among the other prizewinners were Paul Badura-Skoda and Pierre Barbizet).

He became a French citizen in 1971[citation needed] and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1970 to 1988, where his students included Akiko Ebi, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro, Géry Moutier, Nicholas Angelich, André Sayasov and Jean-Luc Kandyoti.

[citation needed] Ciccolini was known for his having played the music of the Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla, as well as of Franz Liszt.

In 2002, Ciccolini was awarded the Diapason d'Or for his recording of the entire solo piano works of Janáček for Abeille Music and of Schumann for Cascavelles.