Born on 1999 in Lugano, Leonardo De Nigris began studying the piano at the age of 8 under the guidance of Grazia Galletta, and later in 2014 he started taking lessons from Russian pianist Valentina Berman in Milan. In 2018 he entered Anna Kravtchenko’s piano class at Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, obtaining the Bachelor of Arts in Music (2021) and the Master of Arts in Music Performance (2023) with top marks and honours. He is currently pursuing a post-diploma master’s degree (MAS), again under the guidance of Anna Kravtchenko. Leonardo De Nigris has been awarded in many competitions: in 2009 he obtained first prize at Concorso Sara Preatoni in Garbagnate Milanese; in 2016 third prize at “Concorso Giovanile Svizzero”; in 2022 second prize at 9th International Piano Competition in Ischia; in 2023 first prize at Concorso Pianistico internazionale Andrea Baldi in Bologna and in 2024 second prize at Concorso Regina Esperia in Como. Leonardo also took part in various orchestral productions: in 2019 he participated in project Third Hand Socrates, born from the collaboration of Accademia di Teatro Dmitri and concert season 900presente; in 2023 in Focus Ligeti, project which aimed to pay homage to the centenary of the Hungarian composer’s birth; and in 2024 he played with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in a concert conducted by M° François Leleux. In 2021 Leonardo also obtained a scholarship from the Fondazione Zonta Club Lugano for the brilliant results achieved in 2020. Also very active in the world of improvisation, since 2021 he has been taking lessons from the pianist Galina Vracheva and he had the opportunity to perform in 2022 at Beethoven Haus in Bonn and in 2023 at Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2024 Leonardo started a duo with cellist Maria Clara Mandolesi: together they had the opportunity to exhibit in various concert seasons, including Unisono (Feltre); Incontri di Musica da Camera (Cividale del Friuli) and Viotti Tea (Vercelli).
He is a student of Fondazione Accademia di Musica ETS since 2025.
