Pianist GIANLUCA CASCIOLI's career was launched with his victory at the 1994 Umberto Micheli International Piano Competition before a jury that included Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Maurizio Pollini, and Charles Rosen. A Deutsche Grammophon recording followed - the first of several DG releases - along with invitations from many leading European orchestras. The Italian pianist has since appeared in the major music centers of Europe, North America, and Japan.

Gianluca Cascioli has performed with such prestigious orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the RAI Symphony Orchestra, and the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Claudio Abbado, Peter Rundel, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Yuri Temirkanov, Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Harding, and Mstislav Rostropovich, to name a few.

In January 1999 Cascioli made his debut in the United States with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Roberto Abbado, who invited him to play with the Boston Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony under his baton. Highlights of his 2002/2003 season include performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut.

Cascioli's first CD, offered by Deutsche Grammophon to the winner of the Micheli Competition, was released in 1995. A second recording - with works by Bach, Busoni, and Falla - soon followed. He has also recorded piano music by Webern for DG's complete survey of that composer's music and several works by Beethoven for DG's Beethoven Edition.

Cascioli is also an experienced conductor and composer. He has directed the Deutsche Kammerorchester Frankfurt in a program of music by Mozart and Schubert, and in November 2000, during his tour of Japan, he gave the world premiere of his Variations for Piano. In April 2001 he premiered his first Sonata for Violin and Piano, together with violinist Stefano Mollo.

Gianluca Cascioli was born in Turin in 1979. He studied piano with Professor Franco Scala at the Imola Academy and studied composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin. He is currently studying electronic music at the Milan Conservatory.