Franz Liszt - Gazette musicale (1838).
Giusy Caruso, on graduating with honors in piano, came to the attention of the music world since an early age by winning the award, Mondo Musica International, dedicated to the best graduates from the Italian Conservatories (Rome, 1998).
Her inclination towards the contemporary repertoire was confirmed in 2009, when Ms Caruso won the prestigious International Ibla Grand Prize "Special Mention" for the best performance of contemporary music with the Huit Préludes by Olivier Messiaen. Her interpretation of the Huit Préludes received considerable critical acclaim in Italy and abroad. The musicologist Roman Vlad praised "her refined sound and expressive eloquence”. In 2008, on Olivier Messiaen’s centenary of his birth, she performed in several International and National Festivals (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leipzig, Girona, Lisbon, Paris, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, Cosenza), by playing also the Turangalila - Symphonie.
Ms Caruso is concerned with spreading classical music, especially the contemporary piano repertoire, while transferring growing enthusiasm to the audience in her recitals, lecture-concerts, workshops, seminars and piano masterclasses. Her tribute concert to Nino Rota by performing his 15 Preludi for piano, received a great success in Buenos Aires Antwerp and Ghent. She created and performed for the bicentenary of Chopin's birth the piano-drama recital, George Sand racconta Chopin, highly valued for its originality. For Franz Liszt’s bicentenary, her series of lectures and monographic concerts were strongly appreciated in marathons and festivals dedicated to the Hungarian composer.
Important halls hosting her performances were: Sala Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Concertgebouw, De Tambor and OrgelPark in Amsterdam, Theatre Podium Twente in Enschede, De Doelen, Schouwburg and Lantaren in Rotterdam, Casa de la Cultura in Girona, Cathedral Sainte-Croix-des-Arméniensin Paris, Auditorium Dionisio Petriella in Buenos Aires, Wiener Saal and Theatersaal in Salzburg, Grosser Saal of the Leipzig Conservatory, Palácio Foz in Lisbon. A regular concert activity brought her in Italy, Belgium, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, England, Argentina as a solo pianist as well as with Orchestras (Heremitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Youth Orchestra of the Conservatory of Rotterdam and the Orchestra of the Conservatory of Vibo Valentia). Among her chamber music projects, she collaborated with the French guitarist Gaëlle Solal, the Italian percussionist Tarcisio Molinaro, the oboist Maria Grazia D' Alessio and the group Ars Aenotria Etoiles.
From October to December 2011, she was one of the few pianists engaged in the transgressive exhibition, Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano, performing on a Bechstein piano, a mobile artwork made by the South American visual artists Allora & Calzadilla, staged at the Argos Centre of Art and Media in Brussels.
Ms Caruso recorded for the label Sipario Dischi of Milan a monographic CD on Franz Liszt’s religious compositions by the title, The mysticism of a diabolic romantic, which includes her own booklet. The CD, presented at the Istituto F. Liszt in Bologna, was also awarded with the Golden Label by the Belgian music critiques of Klassiek-Centraal.
A new album is forthcoming which comprises works by Italian and French contemporary composers like Giacinto Scelsi, Jacques Charpentier, Davide Anzaghi, Sylvano Bussotti.
Her live recordings have been broadcasted on radio and television in Italy (Radio Vaticana, RAI and Sat 2000) and in The Netherlands (Radio Rjimond).
Recipient of numerous national and international awards and scholarships, worthy of notice are: Bayreutherfestspiele (Amsterdam), Prix De Harmonie, (Rotterdam), Cecilia Pisano Award among the best graduates in Italy (Pietrapaola), Elliodoro Sollima Award for the best interpretation of a Beethoven’s Sonata (Villafranca Tirrena), Orfeo Stillo Scholarship at the National Competition of Music "Città di Paola" (Cosenza). She was also awarded with the Prizes Telesio and Notte di Stelle, in her hometown Cosenza, for her artistic activity recognized abroad.
Ms Caruso is concerned with spreading classical music, especially the contemporary piano repertoire, while transferring enthusiasm to the audience in her lecture-concerts, workshops, seminars and masterclasses in piano.
Her artistic and musical research focuses on the influence of Indian music in contemporary piano repertoire arousing keen interest from European Universities and Institutions on Artistic Research in Music. Ms Caruso was actually invited to hold conference-concerts at: the Liszt Symposium, Amsterdam 2011; the European Platform for Artistic Research in Music, Accademia Santa Cecilia, Rome 2012; the Institute of Musicology of Hamburg, 2012; the London International Piano Symposium, Royal College of Music, London 2013; the IPEM 50 International Week of Contemporary Music, Ghent, 2013; the Orpheus Institute, International Research Centre in Music, Ghent 2013; the Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Vigo, Spain 2013.
After graduating cum laude in Philosophy with a thesis in Music Aesthetics from the University of Calabria, she carried on her piano studies abroad attending at first piano masterclasses at the Mozarteum of Salzburg and at the Felix Mendelssohn Conservatory of Leipzig.
Her academic qualifications in Music comprise:
Post-Master’s Degree in Contemporary Music with the highest distinction - Royal Conservatory and University of Ghent, Belgium;
Master’s Degree in Piano Solo Performance, with the highest distinction - Codarts, Conservatory of Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance - Codarts, Conservatory of Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
Post-Master’s Degree in Piano cum laude - Politecnico Internazionale Scientia et Ars of Vibo Valentia, Italy;
Diploma in Piano cum laude - Conservatorio di Musica “F. Torrefranca” of Vibo Valentia, Italy.
