Portland Piano International Presents Filippo Gorini in Recital, March 22, Anchoring a Month-Long Oregon Residency
As the fourth stop in his global “Sonata for 7 Cities” project, the acclaimed Italian pianist brings world-class recitals, master classes, and community concerts to audiences across the state—from Portland to Pendleton, Cannon Beach to Eugene.
Main Recital: Sunday, March 22, 2026 • 4:00 PM
PSU’s Lincoln Performance Hall
PORTLAND, OR — In March 2026, Portland Piano International will welcome Italian virtuoso pianist Filippo Gorini for a unique month-long residency, the fourth stop in his ambitious "Sonata for 7 Cities" project. This big-hearted and bountiful undertaking aims to show an innovative, responsible, and intentional alternative to conventional concert life. Buoyed by the support of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust, the Italian Cultural Institute, and private sponsors, Gorini's project is driven by a passionate belief in the transformative power of classical music and his desire to meet communities exactly where they are.
"Sonata for 7 Cities" places Gorini for a full month in seven cities around the globe: Vienna, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Portland, Medellín, Milan, and a final stop to be announced. In each city, the residency centers on two significant concerts—a solo recital and a concerto with orchestra—but reaches far beyond the stage into schools, prisons, care facilities, churches, and private studios. Portland Piano International is partnering with Filippo to make his month in the Pacific Northwest as meaningful and impactful as possible, working from PPI's own mission and vision of presenting the finest pianists of today and tomorrow and fostering the growth of musicianship in the region through education and inspiration. By engaging Filippo in as many community-related projects as possible, including performances in two penitentiaries (Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton, and Coffee Creek Correctional Institution, Wilsonville), various master classes and private lessons to a day of teaching at the Washington School for the Blind and a special recital for the residents of the Haven Center of Oregon, Filippo will connect with the diversity of the state's inhabitants. From the plains of Pendleton to the haystack rocks of Cannon Beach, communities big and small can look forward to opportunities to hear transcendental music from an acclaimed musician who lives by the conviction that music should be played to every heart that needs to listen.
At the heart of the residency is Gorini's solo recital on Sunday, March 22 at 4:00 PM at Lincoln Performance Hall. The first half immerses audiences in the world of Robert Schumann, opening with the Arabeske, op. 18, a gently spiraling reverie whose singing melody settles over the listener like a quiet conversation, then building to the Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6 (1837 edition), eighteen character pieces that shift between tenderness and wild exuberance — intimate diary entries from a composer writing in the euphoria of a secret engagement to Clara Wieck, the love of his life.
After intermission, the world premiere of Michelle Agnès Magalhães's Portland Sonata, one of seven pieces commissioned for the "Sonata for 7 Cities" project from composers around the world — named for the city hearing it first. The afternoon closes with Beethoven's Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110, one of the composer's final three piano sonatas and among his most searching: a work whose opening sings with disarming tenderness before plunging into a lamenting aria and a fugue that, twice broken and twice rebuilt, arrives at an ending of quiet, hard-won grace. In Gorini's hands, this is music that catches you mid-breath and won't let go until the last note fades.
Gorini is the recipient of one of Italy's highest musical honors, the Premio Abbiati for Best Soloist of the Year (2022), and First Prize winner at the Telekom-Beethoven Competition (2015). His albums on Alpha Classics, featuring late works by Beethoven and Bach, have earned a Diapason d'Or Award and five-star reviews in The Guardian and BBC Music Magazine. Praised for "lovely poise throughout, sometimes as though with bated breath, other times with driving propulsion, and occasionally exploding with pure joie de vivre" (BBC Music Magazine), he brings an interpretive depth shaped by the mentorship of Alfred Brendel and Mitsuko Uchida. His "Sonata for 7 Cities" grew from a previous multiyear project, "The Art of Fugue Explored," a critically acclaimed Alpha Classics recording of Bach paired with a documentary film series featuring Peter Sellars, Frank Gehry, and George Benjamin. The new project extends that ambition: each city hosts newly commissioned works and a documentary series set for release in 2027.
Portland audiences have followed Gorini's rise since PPI first presented him as a Rising Star in 2019. His return to the Main Recital Series in January 2024 made clear what PPI audiences had sensed from the start: a musician of rare intellectual scope and communicative warmth. Now Portland will become one of seven cities in the world invited into this sustained creative partnership, and one of the few places where a world-class artist will make music for an entire month.
Filippo Gorini, Program
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Arabeske op. 18
Davidsbündlertänze, op. 6 (1837 edition)
-INTERMISSION-
MICHELLE AGNÈS MAGALHÃES
Portland Sonata, World premiere
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110
Tickets & Information: portlandpiano.org/filippo-gorini
Full Residency Schedule: sonatafor7cities.com/portland
Venue: Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Date/Time: Sunday, March 22, 2026 • 4:00 PM
OTHER PUBLIC PERFORMANCES: PORTLAND RESIDENCY, MARCH 2026
Tuesday, March 3, 7:30 PM — Beall Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene
Recital in partnership with Oregon Piano Institute.
Tickets and details: oregonpianoinstitute.org/piano-series
Thursday, March 5, 3:00 pm - Thursdays @ Three on All Classical Radio, hosted by Christa Wessel
Tune in to hear Filippo on your favorite classical music station.
Details: https://www.allclassical.org/programs/thursdays-at-three/
Friday, March 6, 6:00 pm - St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church
A performance in a historically Black community church in Northeast Portland.
More details coming soon.
Sunday, March 8, 3:00 pm - Cannon Beach Community Church
PPI’s return to a favorite coastal venue.
More details coming soon.
Saturday, March 14, 4:00 PM — Pendleton Center for the Arts
Tickets and details: pendletonarts.org/live-music
Monday, March 23, 7:00 PM — Master class for students at Portland Piano Company
Details: portlandpiano.org/master-classes
Sunday, March 29, 10:30 AM — Chatter PDX, Pacific Center
Chamber music performance featuring Fauré.
Tickets and details: chatterpdx.org
Sunday, March 29, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM — Piano Day Celebration with SoundsTruck NW
More details coming soon.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Eifert, 347.741.1913
jonathan.eifert@goldsoundmedia.com
HIGH-RES PHOTOS [DOWNLOAD]