Italian cellist Stefano Bruno is a laureate of numerous international competitions, most recently in the Netherlands at the 2022 IX Cello Biennale Competition and at the Grachten Festival Conservatorium Concours 2023, where he won first prize, and in Hungary at the 2019 VIII International Cello Competition “David Popper”, where he won gold medal and special prize.

Born into a musical family in 2000, Stefano studied cello from an early age at the Conservatory of Foggia. Starting in the class of Francesco Montaruli, he graduated in 2018 with his Diploma in Cello in the class of Giuseppe Carabellese with full marks, honors and mention.

He has given concerts extensively throughout Europe as both a recital and concerto soloist with the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, VU-Orkest, Settenovecento Orchestra, Intercontinental Ensemble, Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonic Orchestra of the Conservatory of Foggia.

In 2022 he debuted at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, both in the Kleine Zaal with a solo recital, as well as in the Grote Zaal playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto conducted by Ed Spanjaard.

He went on tour with the VU-Orkest playing “La muse et le poete” by Saint-Saens conducted by Arjan Tien performing in Bratislava, Wien (Rathausplatz), Brno (Spilberk) and Amsterdam.
He debuted in Germany playing in Berlin and Hamburg at the Italian Institutes of Culture and in Bremen at the “Die Glocke”.

Passionate with all forms of classical music performance, he has played in various ensembles; he is a member of Trio Eidos, he plays in a duo with violinist Giulio Greci, he is a member of the contemporary ensemble “Opificio Sonoro”, regularly collaborates with Daniel Kramer for cello and piano recitals and has played other ensembles ranging from quartet to symphonic, chamber and opera orchestras.

Stefano attended the Center of Musicology Walter Stauffer in Cremona and the Accademia Chigiana of Siena with Antonio Meneses and with Bruno Giuranna for his chamber music studies. He also studied with Giovanni Gnocchi at the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna. He has taken part in masterclasses with Julian Steckel, Jacob Shaw, Denis Shapovalov, Enrico Dindo, Massimo Polidori and Luigi Piovano.

He attended the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome with Giovanni Sollima where he graduated with full grades summa cum laude, the School of Music of Fiesole with Francesco Dillon and Paolo Bonomini, the AVOS Project in Rome and the Perosi Academy in Biella studying chamber music with the AVOS Quartet and the Trio di Parma.

In 2023 he finished his master studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, graduating from the class of Pieter Wispelwey with full grades summa cum laude.

https://stefanobrunocello.com