Bruno Canino concentrates his efforts on chamber music and contemporary solo piano repertoire as both performer and composer. His earliest instruction took place in Naples, his birthplace, under Vincenzo Vitale. He later enrolled at the Conservatory of Milan, where Enzo Calace and Bruno Bettinelli guided his dual training in piano and composition; during this period he captured prizes at the Bolzano international piano competitions in 1956 and 1958 as well as at Darmstadt in 1960. Extensive travels have taken him across Europe, Japan, Australia, and the United States, where he appears both alone and in ensemble settings, partnering with distinguished string musicians that include Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Salvatore Accardo, Viktoria Mullova, and Uto Ughi. Recognition also stems from his long-standing piano duo alongside Antonio Ballista and from his participation in the Trio di Milano, whose other members were violinist Saschko Gawriloff and cellist Siegfried Palm. A wide array of composers—among them Berio, Anzaghi, Donatoni, Bussotti, Kagel, Rihm, Xenakis, and Liebermann—have written pieces expressly for him. In addition, he once served as director of the Biennale di Venezia and published the volume Vademecum for a Chamber Pianist through Passigli Editions in 1997. Among his principal recorded projects stand Bach’s Goldberg Variations; Mendelssohn’s cello-and-piano works performed with Lynn Harrell; a Prokofiev–Ravel–Stravinsky collection made with Viktoria Mullova that earned the Edison prize; the complete piano output of Alfredo Casella; Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion recorded with András Schiff and the Amadinda Ensemble; and the first compact disc devoted to Debussy’s entire piano catalog. The CAM Jazz label issued Americas in 2016 while Canino remained active into his eighties; the duet disc with jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi presents music by composers from North and South America.
