Biography

It’s not enough just to listen to Giulia Mazzoni’s music; you must watch her perform it. She seems to travel with the piano as a ‘veil’ is lifted on this magical journey inviting us not only to dream but also to reflect, to imagine, to think. This is the power of music. Giulia’s carefully arranged compositions provoke a range of emotions, with weightier notes suggestive of intimacy and reflection, while gentler ones explore the possibility of rebirth. It’s always a pleasure to watch Giulia play. She sits on a stool but her body and especially her fingers seem to dance across the chiaroscuro keys of the piano, so evocative of life’s ups and downs. This is Giulia: a sensitive artist who translates her thoughts onto the musical staff only to give them away. When a song excites you, moves you, makes you reflect or think, it means that its author, like a good teacher, has succeeded in being understood. Yet the power of music goes even further, since we each find something different in that song, and the greatness of this artist combined with her modesty make her one of the most highly regarded pianists today.

Music critic Azelio Biagioni

“She is a revelation of recent times. Her music is pop, contemporary, and refined.”
Corriere della Sera newspaper

Composer and pianist Giulia Mazzoni’s music is romantic, emotional, and dreamlike and tries to marry classical style with the pop world. Critics have called her the “piano angel” to describe how she transports listeners to another world through her emotional pianism. She seems to come “from another planet” as she transforms at the piano while “sprouting her wings”, as though she becomes the music she writes.

Giulia was born in Florence on March 15, 1989. After studying piano, saxophone, and arrangement at the Giuseppe Verdi music school in Prato with Susanna Sgrilli and Roberto Manuzzi, she specialized in composition at the Milan Conservatory.

In 2013 Giulia released her first album, Giocando con i bottoni (“Playing with the buttons”), containing 14 original compositions for solo piano. That same year she became the first Italian composer to receive the prestigious Ciampi Award. She also performed at RAI’s live Christmas concert held at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome, sharing the stage with greats like Patti Smith, Dolores O’Riordan, Elisa, Asaf Avidan, and Anggun.

In 2014 Giulia performed at Eataly Milano Smeraldo, the Ravello Festival, and the MEI independent-label festival in Faenza. The following year, she was the only woman chosen to contribute to Sony Music’s “Eataly Live Project” compilation with her song “Where and When?”. She was also the resident pianist for Audi City Lab at Milan Design Week 2015, playing a Bösendorfer piano specially designed by Philip Schlesinger.

Giulia has contributed to various Italian theatrical productions like “Organo Dialogante” starring Marco Baliani, in which she performed her own compositions on an 18th-century Gatti organ, and “L’ultimo Giorno di Sole” starring Chiara Buratti, written by Giorgio Faletti, and directed by Fausto Brizzi.

From 2013 to 2015 Giulia performed at various renowned Italian venues, including the Blue Note in Milan and the Parco della Musica Auditorium in Rome.

“Giocando con i bottoni” was also released in China where the artist wowed audiences and critics alike during a sold-out, five-city tour to Tianjin, Xi’an, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Wuhan.

Throughout her career, Giulia has given several lectures and masterclasses for cultural initiatives like Tedx Milano, Tempo delle Donne, and Corriere La lettura (where she performed with Emilio Isgrò at the Triennale Museum in Milan), as well as institutions like La Sapienza University in Rome, Cattolica University in Milan, and the Scuola di Cinema Immagina in Florence.

On October 21, 2016 she released her second album, Room 2401, with Sony Music. In addition to twelve previously unreleased tracks and three bonus tracks, the collection includes a piece Giulia performed with the illustrious Michael Nyman, an original version of “The Departure” composed for two pianos – his first-ever collaboration with another composer/pianist.

In 2016 Giulia played at two festivals, Piano City Milano and Naturalmente Pianoforte in Pratovecchio Stia. She also performed for three live television broadcasts: the last episode of the “Zecchino d’Oro” festival on RAI 1, “Edicola Fiore – Bollino Rosso” on Sky Uno, and “Rai Marathon 2016” on RAI 2.

In 2017 she became the first composer and pianist to perform at the major Italian pop music event Festival Show. That same year she collaborated with the women’s choir of San Vittore Prison in Milan as part of the “Oltre le mura” project.

In 2018, Sony released Room 2401 in Taiwan and China, and Giulia returned for a second sold-out tour through Asia, including performances in prominent theaters like the Taoyuan Arts Center in Taiwan and the Tianjin Grand Theatre in China. In May of that year, she performed for Celebrity Cruises in Southampton, Cherbourg, Vigo, and Bilbao along with artists like Katherine Jenkins, CARisMA, and Alfie Boe. In July she returned for a third Asian tour, including shows at the Poly Grand Theatre in Shanghai, the Grand Theatre in Tianjin, the Italian Embassy in Beijing, and the Guangxi Culture and Art Center in Nanning.

In February 2019 Giulia performed for Chinese New Year in Prato, which is home to the largest Chinese diaspora in Italy, and her presence was an important symbol of unity between the Italian and Chinese communities. That July, the artist returned to China a fourth time for another successful tour including stops at the Dongying Xuelian Grand Theatre and the Changyi Theater, both in Shandong; the Italian Embassy in Beijing; and the Jiangsu Grand Theatre in Nanjing, where she also gave a masterclass at the Sinohorn Music International School.

Despite the challenges tied to the pandemic in 2020, Giulia still managed to participate in various festivals, concerts, interviews, and live streams. In March she presented “Inside Room 2401”, a series of fifteen concerts that she streamed from her Instagram channel. On May 23, she participated in the international Piano City Milano festival along with Michael Nyman, Ludovico Einaudi, Chilly Gonzales, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Joep Beving, Rosey Chan, Rufus Wainwright, Sasha Pushkin, and others. Some 265 thousand people around the world followed the live stream of the festival and millions of people in 120 countries have viewed the recording.

Due to Covid-19, Giulia has had to cancel, reschedule, or modify several planned performances. She is currently working on her new album, due for release in 2022.

On June 18 and 19 the artist starred in Milano Classica’s project Crossover Friday, which included a masterclass and a final concert. She performed at the Palazzina Liberty in Milan accompanied by young musicians that she selected during the masterclass: violinist Maria Teresa Amenduni and the Zuena Quartet.  

On July 19 Giulia performed in the beautiful courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. For that event, in addition to playing songs from her albums, she also created new versions played for the very first time by Laura Marzadori, the second violin of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala Orchestra. Davide Friello’s magical handpan and Tyler Stewart’s cello also accompanied this melodic journey. Produced by the Palazzo Strozzi as an homage to the exhibition “American Art 1961-2001” and to the city of Florence, the show was a huge success and garnered international attention.

She is currently working on her new album, due for release in 2022.