Beatrice Rana Tour: Award-Winning Pianist Attracts Italians, Classical Music Fans

After winning the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition's silver award and audience award, pianist Beatrice Rana has been making waves on the international classical musical scene. After the performance in Burlington on March 31, Rana will continue to Saint Paul, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; Aix-en-Provence, France; Tokyo, Japan and beyond.

According to Seven Days, Beatrice Rana's UVM Lane Series concert in Burlington is sponsored by Vermont Italian Cultural Association, a Chittenden County-based nonprofit with about 150 members. A crowd of Italian-culture fans and Italian speakers from the club will shout Brava and offer candy to attendees.

Bill Cimonetti said that attendees should expect homemade Italian pastries, gelato, fresh fruit and "maybe even some red, white and green balloons. Cimonetti is a part-time South Burlington resident sits on the board of VICA and also a longtime supporter of the Lane Series and belongs to its Piano Consortium.

The Piano Consortium is a group of donors that helps to bring in top pianists. Cimonetti assisted on VICA's support for Rana.

Rana's program for the concert is not Italian but in German: Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations". Bach's "Goldberg Variations" was written for harpsichord and has become a rite of passage of sorts for keyboardists since Glenn Gould recorded it in 1955 at the age of 22.

The "Goldberg Variations" requires intense technical precision combined, in some variations, with speed. Meanwhile, Rana's technical elegance, which has been noted at every turn, was described as wholly individual by critics.

According to Beatrice Rana's official biography, she was born into a family of musicians in Italy. Rana began her piano lessons when she was four and made her orchestral debut when she was nine.

Rana currently lives in Rome where she continues her studies with her lifetime mentor, Benedetto Lupo. Rana gained public attention after winning First Prize and all special jury prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011.

Beatrice Rana released her first album in 2015 which received unanimous international acclaim and was named Gramophone's Editor's Choice and BBC Magazine's Recording of the Month.

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