Pietro De Maria was born in 1967 in Venice. He studied piano with Gino Gorini at the Conservatory of Venice. After graduating he continued his studies at the Conservatory of Geneva with Maria Tipo, obtaining the Premier Prix de Virtuosité with the highest honours in 1988.

At the age of 13 he won the Alfred Cortot International Piano Competition. In 1990 he was a finalist in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where he was awarded the Critics' Prize and a special prize given by the jury for his personal interpretation. One month later he received the Dino Ciani Prize at the Teatro alla Scala International Piano Competition in Milan.

De Maria has already appeared with numerous orchestras at home and abroad, including the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Wiener Kammerorchester, Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and RAl National Symphony Orchestra, with conductors of the stature of Gary Bertini, Sergiu Comissiona, Vladmir Fedoseyev, Lu Jia, Peter Maag, Frank Shipway and Sandor Végh.

In 1991 he made his German debut at the Herkulessaal in Munich and in 1992 he opened the Chopin Festival in Paris. In the same year, he toured South America as piano soloist with the Padua Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Bruno Giuranna and made his North American début at the Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island. He has recently appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Piano Festival at La Roque d'Anthéron, the Spring Festival in Budapest, the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo and at the MIDEM in Cannes. His performances have been seen on RAl TV in Italy and he has recorded for the radio in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the US.

In June 1994 by unanimous decision of the jury and its president Sandor Végh he received First Prize at the Géza Anda International Piano Competition in Zurich, where he also won the audience Award for his interpretation of Brahms' Piano Concerto No.2.

Pietro De Maria's schedule this year includes recitals in Florence, Paris, St Moritz and Berne; performances at the festivals of Brescia, Ruhr and Bratislava; a return visit to the Tonhalle Zurich with conductor Marek Janowski, two concerts with the Bamberg Symphony and a tour of Germany with Synfonia Varsovia.

His recording of three Clementi Piano Sonatas will be released shortly by Naxos.