Federico Colli

"At this moment in time we don't need more virtuosi. We need musicians to engage with the philosophy of music

- Michael Church

Since his Leeds Competition win in 2012, the Italian pianist has been forging his own interpretative path. He talks culture, ideology and sartorial style with Michael Church

With his silk cravat and perfectly cut suit, Federico Colli took the stage like a dandy for his Southbank debut in 2014, and that quality was also in evidence when he began to play. His gesturing in the air was an artform in itself: during pauses his hands fluttered like swallows, sometimes swooping down almost to the keyboard then soaring up, as though having second thoughts before landing on a fastidiously placed chord.

But there was a singular artistry underpinning all this: Colli, after all, had been the winner of the Salzburg Mozart Competition in 2011 and of the Leeds International Piano Competition a year later. And in his hands Mozart’s Sonata in G, K283 opened like a spring flower; he seemed to brush the keys rather than strike them, and he was sparing with the pedal. Beethoven's 'Appassionata' emerged immaculately controlled and at white heat, while Schumann's First Sonata became so quirky that it might have been a brand new piece, yet it was true to Schumann's spirit.

Fast-forward ten years to a recital at Wigmore Hall, where Colli is unveiling some surprises with Mozart's Sonata in A, K331. Unfamiliar flourishes and grace notes are beginning to adorn the Menuetto, and the smooth five-note motif which conventionally opens the Alla Turca becomes a jerkily skipping figuration. The first note is now an acciaccatura - a 'crushed' note-which creates a DUMtiti-DUM-titi-DUM rhythm, completely altering the character of the piece.