Bruno Canino is a pianist and composer specializing in chamber music and contemporary works for solo piano. He began piano studies in his native Naples with Vincenzo Vitale. Under the tutelage of Enzo Calace and Bruno Bettinelli, he then pursued work in both piano and composition at the Conservatory of Milan, winning prizes in the international piano competitions at Bolzano (1956, 1958) and Darmstadt (1960). Canino has toured Europe, Japan, Australia, and the United States both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, and collaborated with many prominent string players, such as Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Salvatore Accardo, Viktoria Mullova, and Uto Ughi. He is also known for his piano duo with Antonio Ballista and as a member of the Trio di Milano (with violinist Saschko Gawriloff and cellist Siegfried Palm). Numerous composers have dedicated works to him, including Berio, Anzaghi, Donatoni, Bussotti, Kagel, Rihm, Xenakis, and Liebermann. A onetime director of the Biennale di Venezia, Canino also authored the book Vademecum for a Chamber Pianist (Passigli Editions, 1997).

Canino's most notable recordings include Bach's Goldberg Variations; Mendelssohn's compositions for cello and piano (with Lynn Harrell); works by Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky (with Viktoria Mullova for a record that was awarded the Edison prize); the complete works of Alfredo Casella; Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (with András Schiff and the Amadinda Ensemble); and the first compact disc of the complete piano works by Debussy. Still recording into his eighties, the CAM Jazz label released Americas in 2016. Featuring the works of North and South American composers, it was duet album with jazz pianist Enrico Pieranunzi. ~ Robert Adelson, Rovi