Francesco Viola (b. 1987) is one of the leading talents of the Italian piccolo scene. Piccolo soloist of the Nationaltheater in Mannheim and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, he has performed with the world class orchestras of Teatro alla Scala, SWR, Oper Frankfurt, Oper Stuttgart, Teatro San Carlo, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Arena di Verona and the Bamberg Symphoniker. His commitment to the piccolo has led him to create new repertoire by publishing his own arrangements, including Krähmer’s Variations for csakan, and performing contemporary works including Andreas Baksa’s Grande concerto piccolo and Mike Mower’s Piccolo Sonata. A passionate teacher, Viola is regularly invited to music universities and international flute festivals to give masterclasses and recitals, his most recent teaching position being flute lecturer at the Conservatorio ‘A. Scarlatti’ in Palermo. Francesco Viola studied at the Conservatorio ‘V. Bellini’ in Palermo, at MDW in Vienna and the Conservatoire ‘Pierre Barbizet’ in Marseille, obtaining the Premier Prix with mention and the Grand Prix de Marseille for piccolo and flute. He was awarded First Prize in the ‘Severino Gazzelloni’ Competition 2015 for the Piccolo category. www.francesco-viola.com