The Chopin Project

As part of their regular Celebration Series, Nelson Centre of Musical Arts welcomes concert pianists Matteo Napoli and Flavio Villani presenting The Chopin Project – a delightful evening of preludes and polonaises.

Matteo Napoli is a honors graduate of the Giordano Conservatoire in Foggia. He studied with a galaxy of world-renowned teachers such as Aldo Ciccolini, Nikita Magalov, Alfredo Speranza and Yvonne Lefebuerre. Early in his career, he captured worldwide attention with first and second places in a significant European piano competitions most notably the International Liszt Piano Competition in Lucca, Italy where he won first place in 1986.

Flavio Villani is Italian-born New Zealand citizen living in Auckland. He completed a Bachelor of Piano Performance with Matteo Napoli at the Conservatory ‘G.Martucci’ in conjunction with a Bachelor of IT in Salerno, Italy in 2007. After working in IT in Barcelona he was given the opportunity of coming to New Zealand to pursue a career in music. He moved to New Zealand in 2008 to follow his dream and in 2012 he completed a Master in Piano Performance at the University of Auckland with first-class honors under the guidance of pianist Stephen De Pledge.