Fabio Martino, grandson of a piano teacher in São Paulo, began playing on his grandmother’s instrument when he was just five years old. He gained renown when he won first prize at the 2010 BNDES Bank international piano competition, a major musical event in Latin America. One year later, he won a €10,000 purse with another first prize, this time at the competition held by the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy. Since then he has won more than twenty first prizes.
The next milestones in his career were a first album in 2013 and a second CD entitled Passion that was released three years later with works by Beethoven, Liszt, and Schumann as well as the world’s first recording of a cheerful yet highly demanding composition: Tico-Tico no Fubá as transcribed by Marc-André Hamelin.
Fabio regularly gives concerts and recitals in the largest halls and at the most famous festivals in the world, including Sala São Paulo, Cidade das Artes, Rio Opera House, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Gasteig, Badisches Staatstheater, Seoul Arts Center, Miami International Piano Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, and the Gilmore Festival. His skill and his unique stage presence also made him a natural for various film and television productions, as well as for live broadcasts for various radio and TV stations (SWR, BR, NDR, Globo and the BBC).
In 2015, he received two major awards in Brazil for his achievements: the Audience Award in the “Young Talents” category and the Critics Award in the “Discovery of the Year” category.
Photographs © Anna Meuer, Germania Heibe, IPF
