Francesca Khalifa
The Italian- Egyptian pianist Francesca Khalifa was the winner of the Ferrara International Piano Festival in 2014, awarded by renowned pianist and musicologist Paul Badura-Skoda. Highlights of recent seasons include concerts as soloist with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Filarmonica Pozzoli, the OSJ Chamber orchestra, the Amadeus Orchestra and solo appearances at Steinway Hall New York City, Harbin Concert Hall (China) and Oficina del Historiador (Cuba).
Active soloist and chamber musician, Khalifa has performed extensively in Europe and in the United States.
The pianist has been a guest artist for master classes and lectures at Pino Torinese Master Classes (IT), the Center for Beethoven Studies in San Jose (CA), the School of Performing Arts of Virginia Tech University, the University of Central Florida School of Music in Orlando, the E. Said Conservatory in Jerusalem.
Khalifa had collaborated with the Oosterkerk Festival Chamber Orchestra (The Netherlands) and with the MET Opera Orchestra string quartet.
The pianist had served as Adjunct Professor at NYU Steinhardt and Piano Faculty at the Greenwich House Music School (New York City), as well as Teaching Assistant at USF Tampa, where she also received the President’s Trio Fellowship for piano trio.
Khalifa is a recipient of the New York City Artist Corps Grant 2021 and was the top prize winner in the Schio International Piano Competition Alink-Argerich Foundation, the Premio Loreto Lancia International Piano Competition, the N. van Westerhout International Piano Competition.
Khalifa's mentors are the Cuban pianist and pedagogue German Diez (1924-2014) and pianist Ena Bronstein-Barton, both former pupils of great Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. Her research on German Diez is at the base of a documentary Piano Lessons, which received the official endorsement of the American Liszt Society. The movie has also been officially selected for the Silicon Beach Film Festival 2021 (US) and the XXXIX Turin Film Festival 2021 (IT) and is now available on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi Tv.
Khalifa’s first album Elevation was released in July2022 for Sheva Collection and distributed by Naxos USA, and was awarded Silver medal at the 2022 Global Music Awards.