Pianist Margherita Santi has distinguished herself for her fierce personality, brilliant virtuosity, and above all, her original, distinctive attitude and individual approach, with a natural, convincing feel and understanding of music.

She has internationally performed both as soloist and chamber musician all over Europe, including Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, East Europe and Russia, taking part in numerous festivals and concert seasons in prestigious venues such as Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Yusupov Palace in St.Petersburg, Rachmaninoff Hall and Malij Zaal in Moscow, Zürcher Kammerorchester Haus in Zürich, Teatro Verdi in Florence, Teatro Sociale in Como and Teatro Filarmonico in Verona among others. She is regularly invited by prestigious institutions such as Serate Musicali.

In November 2024, her solo album Fantasies was released by Hänssler Classic, earning outstanding reviews and being praised as showcasing “first-class piano playing.”

Since her orchestral debut with the Pazarzik Symphony Orchestra with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Margherita has regularly performed with renowned orchestras, including Ort – Orchestra della Toscana, Haydn Orchester, and orchestras active in the educational and social fields, such as Orchestra Senzaspine in Italy, touring several times performing Schumann Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2 and Beethoven Piano Concerto no.4.

Margherita is a passionate chamber musician: her profound love towards chamber music allowed her to create a remarkable chamber music repertoire and to perform extensively. Her passion for chamber music brought to play with well-known and esteemed musicians such as Mikhail Tsinman, concertmaster at the Bolshoi Theater, the pianist Olaf John Laneri, violinist Francesca Dego, the Rimsky Korsakov Quartett, horn player Martin Owen, Moscow Rachmaninoff Trio, cellist Frieder Berthold. In 2020 she performed in the parterre of Teatro la Fenice a chamber music concert featuring two piano quartets by Schumann and Brahms live streamed by Radio Mca.

Along her musical journey, she met internationally acclaimed musicians such as Pavel Gililov, Ilana Vered, Gary Graffman, Pascal Nemirovsky and Gustavo Romero, provoking greater attention to her personality, profound devotion, musical comprehension and brilliant instrumental technique. Her musical mastery has been acknowledged through numerous honors and recognition, including more than 40 grand prizes in international piano competitions. She was honored with the Prize of Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, Italy, for the best italian graduate talent. The italian TV channel Rai, defined her an “italian musical excellence”.

Born in Verona, Italy, Margherita started studying piano at the age of five at Prof. Laura Palmieri’s piano courses, who immediately recognized and began developing her extraordinary talent. She had her first public performance at age of six. She graduated with honors at the age of fifteen at Verona’s Conservatory, recording her first album featuring music by Chopin and Liszt. She attended the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and she pursued advanced studies with Natalia Trull at “Tchaikovsky” Conservatory in Moscow. She later gained a Master Degree with honors in Piano Performance presenting a monographic recital dedicated to the three Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonatas. Being passionate about writing, Margherita chose to write an extensive thesis: “R.Schumann: Life and Thought as music”. Her innate curiosity led her to pursue a degree in Communication studies in 2018, with the main focus on sociology and psychology, with a thesis about her own newly establish music festival.

Margherita has conceived and launched the yearly concert season Herbst Musicaux Festival in Verona. Since then, she is the artistic director of the festival, designing every year the theme and the program of the concert season, which aim is to amplify the experience of classical music through contaminations with visual arts, theater and literature, to rediscover the works of women composers and to promote the connection between music, nature and human beings.

In the 2025 season Margherita’s discography will be enriched with a new album, featuring chamber music works. Her next engagements include Grieg Piano Concerto in Austria and both solo and chamber music concerts in Italy, Germany, Spain and China.

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REPERTOIRE

Piano & Orchestra
S.RACHMANINOFF
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Piano Concerto no.2
F.CHOPIN
Piano Concerto no.1
R.SCHUMANN
Piano Concerto op.54
F.LISZT
Piano Concerto no.1
P.I.TCHAIKOVSKY
Piano Concerto no.1
E.GRIEG
Piano Concerto op.16
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto no.4
W.A.MOZART
Piano Concerto KV450
F.B.MENDELSSOHN
Piano Concerto G minor

Solo
J.S.BACH
Italienisches Konzert, BWV 97
English Suite No.2 in A minor, BWV 807
English Suite No.3 in G minor, BWV 808
Clavicembalo ben temperato (I-II): selezione
B.GALUPPI
Sonata in Si bemolle maggiore
D.CIMAROSA
Sonata in Si bemolle maggiore
D.SCARLATTI
Sonata in do maggiore K159 L104
Sonata in si minore K27 L449
Toccata in re minore K141
Sonata in re minore K1
W.A.MOZART
Variazioni KV54
Sonata k332
J.HAYDN
Sonata in F major HOBXVI:23
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Rondò a capriccio
Sonata op.109
Sonata op.10 n.3
Sonata op.2 n.1
Sonata op.27 n.2 “Chiaro di Luna”
Sonata op.31 n.2 “Tempesta”
F.LISZT
Mephisto Walzer no.1
Gretchen am Spinnrade (Schubert-Liszt)
Erlkoenig (Schubert-Liszt)
Apres une lecture de Dante” da Année de pèlerinage
Rigoletto. Parafrasi da concerto.
Notturno Liebestraum no.3
Concert étude “Gnomenreigen”
E.GRIEG
Lyric Pieces op.12 (selection)
F.MENDELSSOHN
Fantasia op.28
Rondò capriccioso op.14
F.CHOPIN
Notturni op.9
Scherzo op.20 n.1
Mazurke op.33 e op.39
Etudes op.10 e op.25 (selection)
Fantasy in F minor op.49
R.SCHUMANN
Humoreske op.20
Arabeske op.18
Sonata no.1 op.11
Sonata no.2 op.22
“Concert sans Orchestre” op.14 / Piano Sonata no.3
Faschingsschwank aus Wien op.26
J.BRAHMS
Rapsodie op.79 no.1
Intermezzi op.118
Ballades op.10
C.DEBUSSY
Le Jarden sous le pluie
Children’s corner
Pour le piano (Prélude, Sarabande, Toccata)
Preludes: Premier Livre (Les collines d’Anacapri, Des pas sur la neige, La fille aux cheveux de lin, Minstrels, Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest)
M.RAVEL
La Valse
F.POULENC
Trois Pieces (Pastorale, Hymne, Toccata)
A.SCRIABIN
Etude no.10 op.8
S.PROKOVIEV
Sonata no.3
Sonata no.2
S.RACHMANINOV
Etudes tableaux op.33 e op.39 (selection)
Moments musicaux op.16
P.I.TCHAIKOVSKY:
The seasons (selection)
M.MUSSORGSKY
Pictures at an Exhibition

Chamber music

Piano Quintett
R.SCHUMANN
Piano Quintett op.44 in E flat major
J.BRAHMS
Piano Quintet
A.DVORAK
Piano Quintet

Piano Quartett
W.A.MOZART
Piano Quartett in G minor
J.BRAHMS
Piano Quartett op.25 in G minor
Piano Quartett op.60
R.SCHUMANN
Piano Quartett op.47
G.MAHLER
Quartettsatz

Piano Trios
W.A.MOZART
“Kegelstatt” Trio
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Trio op.1 no.3 in C minor
“Geister” Trio op.70 n.1
CLARA SCHUMANN
Piano Trio in G minor
S.RACHMANINOFF
Trio Elegiaque no.1 in G minor
R.SCHUMANN
Phantasiestücke op.88
FANNY MENDELSSOHN
Piano Trio
F.SCHUBERT
Trio op.100
D.SHOSTAKOVICH
Trio no.2 op.67
F.B.MENDELSSOHN
Trio no.1 in D minor
Trio no.2 op.66
J.BRAHMS
Horn Trio op.40
R.CLARKE
Dumka

Violin – Piano
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Sonata n.9 “Kreutzer”
W.A.MOZART
Violin Sonata KV454 in B flat major
Violin Sonata KV526 in A major
B.BARTOK
Six Romanian Dances
J.BRAHMS
Violin Sonata op.78
Violin Sonata op.100
Violin Sonata op.108
Scherzo from Sonata FAE
F.SCHUBERT
Sonatina in A minor
R.STRAUSS
Violin Sonata op.18
C.SAINT-SAENS
Danse Macabre
S.PROKOVIEV
Five Melodies op.35
I.STRAVINSKY
Suite Italienne
M.RAVEL
Tzigane
C.FRANCK
Violin Sonata
R.CLARKE
Midsummer Moon, Lullaby, Chinese Puzzle
Violin Sonata in D major
C.SCHUMANN
Romanze

Cello – Piano
J.BRAHMS
Cello Sonata no.1 op.38
Cello Sonata no.2 op.99
R.SCHUMANN
Phantasiestücke op.78
Adagio e Allegro op.70
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Cello Sonata op.5 no.2
Cello Sonata op.69 no.3
Cello Sonata no.5
12 Variations on Händel’s “Judas Maccabeus”
S.RACHMANINOV
Vocalise op.34 n.14
Cello Sonata op. 19
Elegie for cello and piano
D.SHOSTAKOVICH
Cello Sonata
I.STRAVINSKY
Suite Italienne
C.FRANCK
Sonata
F.BUSONI
Kultaselle
DVORAK
Rondò
Waldesruhe
F.ALNAR
Trascription of 3rd movement Cello Concerto
F.CHOPIN
Sonata
Viola – Piano
R.CLARKE
Viola Sonata
Passacaglia, Morpheus, Lullaby
R.SCHUMANN
Phantasiestuecke op.73
Horn – Piano
L.V.BEETHOVEN
Sonata for Horn and Piano
J.BRAHMS
Transcription Clarinet Sonata 2
F.POULÈNC
Elegie

Flute – Piano
G.PUCCINI/J.FRANZ
Turandot Fantasy
S.PROKOFIEV
Romeo and Juliet

Two pianos
W.A.MOZART
Sonata for two pianos
S.RACHMANINOV
Suite no.2
F.POULENC
Sonata for two pianos
P.I.TCHAIKOVSKY – N.ECONOMOU
The Nutcracker Suite
M.RAVEL
La Valse
Four Hands
F.SCHUBERT
Fantasia in F moll, D940
C.DEBUSSY
Petite Suite
G.FAURE’
Suite “Dolly”
W.A.MOZART
Sonata in C major KV19
Sonata in D major K381
RACHMANINOV
Six Morceaux op.11
J.BRAHMS
Valzer op.39
Hungarian Dances
G.BIZET
La Toupie from Jeux d’Enfants
F.POULENC
Sonata for four hands
 

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