Marino Formenti, pianist, performer, conductor, composer, has been lauded by the “Los Angeles Times” as “a Glenn Gould for the 21st Century”. “Artforum” praised his “most cathartic work”.

Formenti’s manifold music itinerary seems to reveal first of all a kind of restless need to discover: a quest that lead him to conceive radically new concert formats and art/music performances. His work has been labeled by the press as: “revolutionary”, “visionary,” “radical”, “mesmerizing”.

His performances include own compositions and/or improvisations, revealing interpretations of contemporary works of others and quite radical reflections on classical music masterpieces. In more recent projects he addresses non-classical forms of music as well, including collaborations with hip-hop-artists and diverse non-Western musicians.

He is acknowledged in the art world as a creator of performances and sound/music installations.

In quite groundbreaking piano recitals (Kurtag’s Ghosts, Liszt Inspections, Torso) Marino Formenti creates a “stream of consciousness” (“The San Francisco Chronicle”) between works, ages and cultures in a sort of continuous flow.  This radical approach has been presented at Lincoln Center New York, Lucerne Festival, Wigmore Hall London, Konzerthaus Vienna.

Joshua Kosman (“The San Francisco Chronicle”) stated: “What James Joyce did for the novel, Formenti seems intent on doing for the piano recital. The results were unforgettable.”

Liszt Inspections was labeled among the Best Performances of “The New York Times” 2015 and the Best Recordings of “The New Yorker” 2014.

Beyond the concert form he created fairly more radical performances in form and approach.

Time to Gather is a recital of a special kind, without the invisible wall between pianist and audience, without a set program, without a predictable ending. People can interact with the pianist and choose what to listen, they can also play with him or instead of him.

Marino Formenti has appeared as a soloist or conductor at the international festivals of Salzburg, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, Ravinia and Aspen – as well as at David Geffen Hall in New York, Philharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Wigmore Hall London, Festival d’Automne in Paris, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

He has been Artist in Residence at Lincoln Center New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Pèlerinages Festival in Weimar along with Sir Andras Schiff, BeethovenFest in Bonn 2020 for the 250th Birth-Year-Celebrations of the composer.

As an artist he is guest of important art institutions and festivals, such as Palais de Tokio in Paris, MUMOK, KHM and Albertina in Vienna, Art Basel, the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisboa, the Onassis Foundation in Athens, Berlin Art Week, Vienna Art Week, Triennale Milano, Biennale Sion, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, MADRE and Fondazione Nitsch in Napoli, Portikus in Frankfurt.

His orchestra engagements as a soloist have included performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de Radio France, the RSO Wien, together with conductors Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ingo Metzmacher, Péter Eötvös among others.