Leonardo was born in 1982 in Parma, Italy. He graduated with honours from the O.Vecchi music school in Modena with Professor Marianne Chen, and has taken masterclasses with a number of teachers including Ivan Monighetti, Karine Georgian, Harvej Shapiro, Yulius Berger, Frans Helmerson, Antonio Meneses and Wolfganf Boettcher. He also studied at the Walter Sauffer Academy in Cremona with M° Rocco Filippini and is currently studying with the acclaimed cellist Natalia Gutman in Florence.
Leonardo has won two first prizes in national competitions, namely the ‘Arcangelo Corelli’ in Fusignano and the ‘Young Talent’ in S.Pietro in Vincoli, and second prize in the international music competition in Pietra Ligure. He has always placed great importance on the thorough research of sound, drawing upon the expressiveness of the lyric opera. He is attentive to contemporary music and has performed pieces dedicated to him by the Italian composer Marco Bonechi.
Leonardo is principal cellist in a youth orchestra directed by Riccardo Muti, with whom he has toured in Germany (Cologne, Philarmonie), Belgium (Liegi, Forum), Russia (Mariinsky Theatre), Spain, France (Opera Theatre, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Austria (Musikverein, Salzburg Pentecose Festival), Switzerland and Italy.
