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 Born in Brescia, the 5th January 1920, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli starts studying piano at age three. At four he attends the musical institute in Brescia and then becomes a private student of Giovanni Anfossi in Milan.
In 1934 he gets a diploma from the Conservatory of Milan and after that he continues studying with the same professor. He stands out in some national competitions between 1936 and 1938; in 1938 he gets the 7th position in the "E. Ysaye" competition of Bruxelles and in July 1939 he wins the competition of Genova. The autumn of the same year, thanks to his fame, he gets the professorship of piano in the Conservatory of Bologna . The war limits his international musical activity but doesn't stop his affirmation nationally. He makes his debut at the Academy of Santa Cecilia at Rome, at "Scala di Milano", at "Maggio Musicale Fiorentino", and performs in all Italy, except Sicily and Sardinia, even after being called in the army in 1942. During the war , he performs in Barcelona (1940), in Berlin (1946), in the United States (1948) and in all the countries of Western Europe. The 20th of September 1943 he gets married with Giuliana Guidetti. In 1955 he performs in Varsavia where he is also a member of the jury of the Chopin Competition. In 1957 he performs in Prague and in 1964 in the URSS. In the period 1939 - 1948 he records regularly for the "Telefunken" and "Voce del Padrone" but in the 50s and 60s he records rarely. In 1962 he accepts to record, in the television Rai studios of Torino, some concerts now available in VHS. However his intense concert activity, he doesn't neglect teaching: in 1945 he moves to the Conservatory of Bolzano, where he rests until 1959.
In Bolzano, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli keeps also a specialization course in the Appiano Castel; in 1952and 1953, and then from '55 to '65, he teaches in the summer season in Arezzo; from 1960 to 1962 in Moncalieri, near Torino.
Enchanted from the mountain, when in Bolzano he visits the "Dolomiti" mountains and becomes friend with the alpine Choir of S.A.T. Trento, for whom he harmonizes about 15 songs.
In 1964 he celebrates his 25 years of teaching, with a cycle of concerts in Brescia. A.B. In 1965 the International Piano Festival "A.B.M." of Brescia and Bergamo is found and the pianist takes part of ituntil 1968 when the record company Bdm is declared failed. Because B. Micghelangeli is a member of this record company, his goods are temporarily confiscated.
 A.B. Michelangeli claims he won't ever perform in Italy and from Bornato near Brescia, where he was living from some years, he moves to Switzerland before in Canton of Zurigo and then in Canton Ticino. In 1969 and 1970 he keeps a specialization course in Lugano, the last of his teaching carrier. His concert activity goes on less intensively that in the past but his fame is already world- wide. In 1973 he performs in Japan and retakes recording for the "Deutsche Garmmophon". In 1977 he keeps a recital in "Sala Nervi" of Vaticano for the Order of Malta. He returns in the Vaticano in 1987 and plays one last time in Italy, in Brescia, in 1980, for the memory of Pope Paolo VI. The 17th October 1988, during a recital in Bordeaux, Benedetti Michelangeli is hit by a violent heart attack; he survives from a chirurgical operation, and starts playing from the next year. In the last years, he plays still in some concerts, even though less than before, records some disks but spends long periods resting in Pura, Canton Ticino, where he moved in 1979. In June 12th 1995 he dies in the Hospital Cantonale of Lugano and is buried in Pura Cemetery.
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