Winner at just 22 years of age of the prestigious Abbiati Prize 2025 as “best soloist” awarded by Italian music critics, and in the same year of the authoritative “Classeek Award” at the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards), Ettore Pagano began studying the cello at the age of nine in Rome.
He trained under Antonio Meneses and David Geringas at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and the Accademia W. Stauffer in Cremona, graduating from the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia in Rome with top marks, honours and distinction. He is currently studying with Jens Peter Maintz at the Universitaet der Kuenste in Berlin.
Since 2013, he received first prize in over 40 national and international competitions. In particular, in 2017 he was awarded a scholarship and a concert prize at the prestigious Carnegie Hall from the New York International Artists Association; in 2019, he won first prize in the “Young Musicians” competition promoted by the Filarmonica della Scala; in 2020, he won first prize in the “J. Brahms” competition in Poertschach; he was the youngest finalist in the “Janigro” competition in Zagreb; he won the “A. Kull Cello Competition” in Graz.
The most recent awards to add to his already impressive list of victories are the 18th Khachaturian International Competition (2022) and the Enescu International Competition (2024).
Ettore Pagano collaborates with leading conductors such as Vitali Alekseenok, Alessandro Bonato, Diego Ceretta, Frédéric Chaslin, Martijn Dendievel, Michele Gamba, Thomas Guggeis, Hartmut Haenchen, Pietari Inkinen, Alevtina Ioffe, Dmitri Jurowski, Michele Mariotti, Giuseppe Mengoli, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, George Pehlivanian, Donato Renzetti, Lee Reynolds, Hubert Soudant, Kazuki Yamada, Erina Yashima, Lorenzo Viotti.
He has already been invited to perform in recitals on major international stages, both in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in Paris, Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf), Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Albania, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Armenia, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman and the United States of America.
Significant events include his debut in March 2025 in the season of the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia (with Rai5 TV) at the Parco della Musica in Rome, and invitations from the RAI National Symphony Orchestra as a soloist on four occasions: twice at the Auditorium Toscanini in Turin with live Radio3 and Raicultura TV; away at the Royal Opera House in Muscat (Oman), and at the Republic Day Concert at the Quirinale with live TV coverage on Raiuno in the presence of the Head of State.
Also in 2025, he received the ‘Una vita nella Musica – Giovani’ award from the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (with ‘A Life in Music’ awarded to Rudolf Buchbinder) and invitations to the ‘Stars & Rising Stars’ concert series in Munich and ‘Stars von Morgen’ at the Brucknerhaus in Linz.
The Head of State awarded him the title of “Knight of the Republic” for artistic merit.
Ettore Pagano plays a cello made by brothers Giovanni and Ignazio Ongaro (Venice – c. 1777), entrusted to him thanks to the cultural and philanthropic initiative ‘Adopt a Musician’, conceived and financed by MusicMasterpieces SA – Lugano.
