Born in 1998, Manuel Cini is an Italian concert pianist and musicologist. He graduated Magna cum Laude from the Conservatorio di Musica Luisa D’Annunzio (Pescara, Italy) in 2017 under the guidance of Filomena Montopoli and received an Advanced Performance Diploma at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Florence, Italy) studying with Andrea Lucchesini two years later. In 2019, he moved to London where he completed the Master of Music in Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of Music. His MMus dissertation explored the interpretation of stylistic and narrative references in Viktor Ullmann’s last three piano sonatas composed in the Theresienstadt ghetto.

Cini’s multifaceted performance career includes recitals across Europe and Asia, appearances as soloist with international orchestras, as well as extensive chamber work and international tours with New York City based Lincoln Center Stage. In 2022, he has released Franz Liszt’s 12 Études d’Exécution Transcendante for the Odradek Records. As a music scholar, Manuel is completing a Ph.D. at the University of Surrey to uncover unknown compositions written by prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War and has presented this work in publication as well as through lecture recitals to international audiences. This has garnered support from the World ORT Music and the Holocaust Project, as well as the Techne AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership, one of the UK’s most prestigious scholarships. Cini serves as the Deputy Director and Executive Board Member of the Institute of Austrian and German Music Research (IAGMR).