Born in 1998, Leonardo Preitano received his musical training from Marco Scano (former principal cellist of Teatro alla Scala in Milan), Giovanni Scaglione (Quartetto di Cremona), and Michele Ballarini (Brahms Trio). In March 2019, he graduated with highest honours from the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma. In 2020, he began a Master’s degree in Concert Performance with Prof. Orfeo Mandozzi at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he obtained his degree in 2022. He subsequently continued his studies with Claudius Herrmann (Opernhaus Zürich, Gringolts Quartet), under whose guidance he completed a Diploma of Advanced Studies in autumn 2025, graduating with a grade of Sehr gut. Particularly devoted to chamber music, he has explored the repertoire with numerous distinguished musicians and internationally renowned chamber ensembles, including the Trio di Parma, Quartetto Prometeo, Quartetto di Cremona, and ATOS Trio. In 2024, he founded the Leonis Trio, a piano trio with which he obtained the Stauffer Artist Diploma at the Stauffer Center for Strings. The ensemble is also part of the Le Dimore del Quartetto network, and since September 2025 he has been pursuing a Master’s degree in Specialized Chamber Music at the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), under the guidance of Prof. Patrick Jüdt. He has also participated in numerous masterclasses with Giovanni Gnocchi, Yves Savary, Enrico Bronzi, Romain Garioud, Asier Polo, and Martti Rousi, gaining the opportunity to perform at major festivals such as the Portogruaro Festival, Festival delle Nazioni in Città di Castello, MusicWithMasters, Garda Lake Music Festival, and Salso Summer Class & Festival. On the latter occasion, he also performed as a soloist in Franz Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major. As both a chamber musician and soloist, he has performed for various institutions and festivals in Italy, France, and Switzerland, including the Monferrato Classic Festival, the Les Aubes Musicales Festival in Geneva, the Le Fil d’Ariane concert series in Collonges-sous-Salève, and the Montepulciano Easter Festival, among others. As an orchestral musician, he has collaborated with various youth and professional orchestras, including I Musici di Parma, the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, the Arteviva Symphony Orchestra, and the Savona Symphony Orchestra. Since October 2020, he has also been a permanent member of Gli Archi di Cremona, a string orchestra with which he had the opportunity to perform at the renowned Stradivari Festival in 2021 and 2024. With a particular interest in historically informed performance practice, he collaborated with Costantino Mastroprimiano and Marco Testori as part of the Historical Keyboards Master’s programme at the Perugia Conservatory, participating in a workshop on Beethoven’s Op. 5 Sonatas on period instruments. He has subsequently collaborated with ensembles specialising in historically informed performance, including Ensemble Trigono Armonico, Orchester “La Compagna”, and Ensemble Sezione Aurea. He has received numerous prizes both as a soloist and chamber musician, including the Premio Salieri, Premio Città di Giussano, Giulio Rospigliosi International Chamber Music Competition, Premio Crescendo, Stresa International Music Competition, Kiwanis Musikpreis in Zurich, and Swiss International Music Competition. He plays an instrument made by Francesco Toto, Cremona, in 2016.
He has been a student of Fondazione Accademia di Musica ETS since 2026.
