With flawless technique and compelling expressiveness, Giuseppe Gibboni won over the jury and audience of the Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa in October 2021. The violinist, born in 2001, was the first Italian in 24 years to win the overall prize, as well as the audience choice prize and special prize for the best interpretations of Niccolò Paganini’s Capriccios and Violin Concerto.
Subsequently, the now 22-year-old musician has begun an extensive concert career. He made his debut with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the direction of Lorenzo Viotti. Shortly thereafter, he played with guitarist Carlotta Dalia at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome; the concert was broadcast live on Italian radio.
The highlights of the past season include his US debut with Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Zubin Mehta in Firenze, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Jader Bignamini as well as concerts with the Orchestra della Toscana under Diego Ceretta and the Orchestra Teatro San Carlo in Naples under Dan Ettinger. Giuseppe Gibboni performed the Violin Concerto by Wynton Marsalis together with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI under John Axelrod and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Sinfonietta Riga in Latvia.
He regularly plays recitals in all over Italy, for example at Amici della Musica in Florence, Serate Musicali in Milan, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari as well as the Stresa Festival among other. In autumn 2023 Giuseppe Gibboni gave his debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under Joel Sandelson, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. During the current season, following a tour throughout South America and among numerous engagements in Italy, he can also be heard as part of the series “Debüt im Nikolaisaal” in Potsdam.
The son of a family of musicians, Giuseppe Gibboni was first taught by his father Daniele Gibboni before attending, at the age of 14, the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, where he received lessons from Salvatore Accardo. He also successfully graduated with a Diploma of Honor from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. After a five-year advanced course at the Accademia Perosi in Biella with Pavel Berman, he now studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg as a student of Pierre Amoyal. Giuseppe Gibboni had already attracted attention with a series of competition successes. He became known to a large television audience in 2016 through his success in the Prodigi – La musica è vita competition broadcast by RAI 1 in collaboration with UNICEF. In the same year he won the first prize and a special prize at the Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition, followed by successes at the Leonid Kogan International Competition in Brussels (2017), the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest (2018) and the Valsesia Musica Competition (2020). Giuseppe Gibboni recorded his debut CD at the age of 15 for the Warner Classics label.
Since 2017, he has been sponsored by Classically Connected, Inc (former Si-Yo foundation) and who provide his ‘F. Tourte bow 1800 Ca.’ and the Stradivarius ‘Lam ex Stotland University’. Since 2023 he also plays the Stradivari 1722 ‘Jupiter’ violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. As winner of the Paganini Competition, he also had the opportunity to perform the “Cannone”, Niccolò Paganini’s favourite instrument built by Guarneri del Gesù in 1743.
Giuseppe Gibboni is also playing a beautiful 2024 Luiz Amorim violin – copy of Guarneri del Gesù Stauffer 1734.