NLS Press Release

Italian Pianist to Debut at the Library of Congress

For Immediate Release:
February 8 2005

Contact: Robert E. Fistick
(202) 707-9279 or rfis@loc.gov

Enrico Lisi, a blind pianist from Milan, Italy, will make his American debut in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 100 First Street SE, Washington, D.C., 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2005.

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets will be available at 5 p.m. on the day of the concert from the Information Desk on the Ground Floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building.

The event will be cosponsored by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress; the Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America, Inc.; the National Federation of the Blind; and the North America/Caribbean Region of the World Blind Union.

Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, said, "We are delighted that Enrico Lisi has accepted our invitation to share his music with the American public. He provides us with a unique opportunity to showcase the abilities of blind and disabled people and their contributions to international cultural life."

Lisi was born partially blind in the province of Como, Italy, 40 miles north of Milan. By age six he had lost all of his sight and by age seven, he had been introduced to the piano. In his third year of elementary school, the budding musician began studying under Maestro Valter Suman. Lisi entered the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatorio in Milan in his fifth year of school, studying under Maestro Alberto Mozzati through 1981, when he completed his studies. He further developed his expertise under Ludwig Hofmann in Munich, Daniel Rivera in Florence, and Bruno Canino and Alberto Colombo in Milan.

The pianist obtained execution awards at such important contests as the Viotti Valesia International Competition (Varallo), the Alberto Mozzati Award at Capo d'Orlando (Messina), the Velletri (Roma) National Contest, the Carlo Fantini Contest of the Italian Union of the Blind (Turin), the Dario Formigoni Revere Award (Mantua), and the Mauro Torrefranca Contest (Vibo Valenzia).

Lisi has performed numerous concerts in such places as the Milan Teatro Rosetum, the Piccolo Teatro, the Palazzo dei Congressi "Fiera di Bologna," the Auditorium Comunale di Senigalia, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, and the Teatro all'antica Sabioneta.

In addition to his renditions of works by such composers as Schubert and Chopin, Lisi will present one of his own compositions, "Improvviso-rapsodia," a short piece composed in 1993.

For more information call the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, at 1-800-424-8567, selection 2, or visit www.loc.gov/nls.

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Posted on 2011-01-10