Francesco Stefanelli

Born in San Marino in 1999. Since 2020, he studies at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Aline Foriel-Destezet Cello Chair with professor Jens Peter Maintz. He has been granted a scholarship by Fundación Albéniz.

He studied in Italy at the Academia Chigiana; at the Academia Stauffer with Antonio Meneses; at the Cello Academy of Pavia with Enrico Dindo, as well as at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome with Giovanni Sollima. He has attended masterclasses by Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Ivan Monighetti, Thomas Demenga, Frans Helmerson, Asier Polo, Alban Gerhardt, and Pirmin Grehl (chamber music).

He has been awarded first prize at the European Music Competition in Città di Moncalieri (2014, Italy), II EuroAsia Italy International Competition (2015, Italy), Città di Giussano (2016, Italy), Antonio Janigro International Cello (2016, Croatia), and AFR Contest in Rome (2020, Italy), as well as second prize at the Krzysztof Penderecki Cello Competition (2018, Poland), and third prize at the Rahn Music Prize Zurich (2018, Switzerland).

He has been granted scholarships by De Sono Association, Turin, Artists ESKAS of the Swiss Government (scholarships of excellence for foreign students), and the Maura Giorgetti scholarship of La Scala Theater of Milan.

He was selected as first cello of the Cherubini Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Riccadp Muti. He has also performed as soloist with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, I Virtuosi Italiani, North Czech Philharmony, and Marchigiana Philharmonic, with whom he performed Shostakovich’s cello concerto no. 1. In 2020 he released a CD with David Fontanesi’s concerto for cello and orchestra along with the I Virtuosi Italiani Orchestra.

As a student of the School, he has performed with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Juanjo Mena, and with the Freixenet Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Sir András Schiff and Andrés Salado. He has been part of the Mistral Trio.