Pompa-Baldi Adjusts the Height for Prokofiev

Born and raised in Foggia, Italy, Antonio Pompa-Baldi first came to the U.S. in 1999 to participate in the Cleveland International Piano Competition. He won First Prize and settled down there with his family. A top prize winner at the 1998 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris, Antonio Pompa-Baldi also won both a silver medal and the Award for the Best Performance of a New Work at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Here is a live performance of Prokofiev´s Etude Op. 2 No. 1. A very ”muscular” work by Prokofiev, which requires a great deal of body weight, fixed positions as well as fluid octaves.
Pompa-Baldi brings forth great sound in spite of sitting very high on the piano bench, which does give him greater sideways flexibility. This is probably the reason for which he adjusts the height before he begins to play.