Marco Rizzello, born in Rimini in 1997, is an Italian pianist and opera coach based in New York, currently serving the staff at NYU Steinhardt and working as a coach at Manhattan School of Music. A prizewinner in many international piano competitions, he most recently made his New York debut at the Jerome L. Greene Space at WQXR.

Historic latest engagements include being an official pianist for the 2023 Duncan Williams Voice Competition, performances for the 2022 Cleveland Art Song Festival and a Fellowship as an Opera Coach for the 2022 Aspen Music Festival´s production of Giuseppe Verdi´s Falstaff with Patrick Summers (starring Bryn Terfel as title role). His upcoming engagements include an invitation to the 2023 Georg Solti Accademia and a Coaching Fellowship at the 2023 Wolf Trap Opera Festival.

Marco approached music from a very young age, under the guidance of his mother. He made his debut at the age of thirteen, being selected by RAI - Radio Televisione Italiana to perform at the Arturo Toscanini Auditorium in Turin as a guest of the TV program "ll gran concerto". His professional activities include solo piano and collaborative recitals in the main Italian cities (Roma, Milano, Torino, Firenze, Venezia, Padova, Pesaro, Ravenna, Grosseto, Cesena, Rimini, Vicenza, Treviso) as well as abroad (Innsbruck, Aarhus, Paris, Enschede, Lubjana, New York, Cleveland, Aspen). Some of the most important engagements in Italy include the Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico (2020 and 2017 in Vicenza) and the Piano Echos Festival (2019).

Marco has worked alongside some of today’s finest conductors, directors, performers, singers and voice pedagogues, including Patrick Summers, Bruno Praticò, Paula Suozzi, Silvio Castiglioni, Chìa Patiño, Anna Vandi, Scott Parry, Daniel Isengart, Manlio Benzi, Luca Ferrara, Massimo Merone and Paolo Manetti. At Manhattan School of Music, he regularly played for the studios of Joan Patenaude – Yarnell, Catherine Malfitano, Shirley Close and Ashley Putnam. In addition, Mr. Rizzello has played concerts alongside professional singers and young prizewinners of renowned international Voice Competitions, including Luca Grassi, Gabriella Morigi, Ramiro Maturana, Maria Stella Maurizi, and Mariangela Marini (Winners of the Spoleto voice competition), Emily Treigle and Le Bu (Winners of the competition at the Metropolitan Opera). He played for Masterclasses of major artists, including Renée Fleming (Aspen Music Festival), Matthew Rose and Stephanie Blythe (Manhattan School of Music).

Marco Rizzello began his formal studies with Prof. Giorgio Farina and graduated in 2016 with a Bachelor of Music (score of 110/110 cum laude) from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "B. Maderna" in Cesena, Italy. In 2018, studying with Prof. Giovanni Valentini, he obtained a Master of Music in Solo Piano at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "G. Rossini" in Pesaro (total score of 110/110 cum laude and honorable mention). In 2021, from the same institution, he obtained a second Master of Music in Collaborative Piano with a total score of 110/110 cum laude and honorable mention, studying with prof. Ubaldo Fabbri. Beginning in 2016, he attended the International Piano Academy in Imola, graduating in 2021 under the guidance of Prof. Boris Petrushansky and Prof. Marlies Van Gent. Particularly interested in conducting, he took lessons with Maureen Hynes at the Manhattan School of Music and privately with Joseph Rescigno.

He moved to the New York in 2021 and he is currently in the second and final year of his Professional Performance Diploma in collaborative piano at Manhattan School of Music, under the prestigious tutelage of Warren Jones and Thomas Lausmann. He is a proud recipient of the Elaine Budnick Kligerman Scholarship for Collaborative Pianists.