Guido Agosti

Who was Guido Agosti?

Guido Agosti was an Italian pianist and piano teacher.

Agosti was born in Forlì in 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldi, earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterpoint under Benvenuti and literature at Bologna University. He commenced his professional career as a pianist in 1921. Although he never entirely abandoned concert-giving, nerves made it difficult for him to appear on stage, and he concentrated on teaching. He taught piano at the Venice Conservatoire and at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. In 1947 he was appointed Professor of piano at the Accademia Chigiana. He also taught at Weimar and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

His notable students include Maria Tipo, Yonty Solomon, Peter Bithell, Leslie Howard, Barbara Lister-Sink, Martin Jones, Donna Amato, Vladimir Krpan, Hamish Milne, Dag Achatz, Sergio Calligaris, Raymond Lewenthal, Kun-Woo Paik, Jean-Pierre Ferey, Daniel Pollack, William Corbett Jones, Angela Brownridge, Ian Munro, Geneviève Calame, and Eric van Griensven.

He made very few recordings; his recording of preludes by Debussy was highly praised. He also recorded Mussorgsky and Janáček. His piano transcription of Stravinsky’s The Firebird is in the repertoire. Agosti also made an edition of Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80.