Who was Maria Golia? [ June 4th, 2009 ] Posted in » Uncategorized

Former pianist Maria Golia was born in Napoli (Italy) on the 23th of August 1916 and was a pupil of Luigi Finizio. She has been one of the most important pianists from the period after the second world war. She has dedicated a great part of her life to teaching piano and has been Honorary President of the European Piano Teachers Association.

She was a strong and charismatic personality who has formed several Italian pianists that are pursuing an active carreer nowadays.

On 21 February 2006 Maria Golia died at the age of 90, and Marina Scalafiotti, who was one of her pupils, started to work on a project now known as the Settimo International Piano Competition, to honour the memory of Maria Golia and Fiorina Sismondi, two woman that have been forming pianists with passion during their lives.

In May 2009, the Fiorina Sismondi prize and the Maria Golia prize brought together 70 pianists from around the world in Settimo Torinese, to compete against each other, to learn from each other, and to breathe music together.