XVI Chopin International Piano Competition
Hartford, CT

Vidal has been hailed as an "exciting and compelling pianist” and his playing praised for his “musical and effortless virtuosity.” Selected performances have been broadcast on Radio and TV, such as WQXR New York, WDNA and WLRN Public Television in Miami. He has pursued an international career as a pianist, performing solo, chamber, and orchestral in North, Central and South America and Europe. He is regularly invited to festivals and to judge international piano competitions all around the world. Vidal has a large piano repertoire including solo, chamber music, vocal music, and concerti. He is also well-rounded in a variety of styles, genres, and improvisation.

 

Vidal started music lessons at the age of five in his native Venezuela, under world-renown music program ‘El Sistema’ (Venezuelan Youth Orchestras and Instrumental Training Program System) and became a student of French pianist Gerard Bourgogne. Further music studies and piano diplomas were completed at age of eighteen at the Maracaibo Music Conservatory under the Russian pianist Mikhail Antoshin, later also studying with Igor Lavrov and Stanislav Pochekin in Caracas. There, he was a prizewinner of several national piano competitions.

 

Since 1996, Vidal made the US his home and became an American citizen. He holds Bachelor, Master, Artist Diploma, and Doctorate in Music degrees from FIU, the Glenn Gould Professional School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and the University of Miami. During his many school days, he studied with pianists Susan Starr, André Laplante, Marietta Orlov, Kemal Gekic and JB Floyd. Also, with important artistic impetus masterclasses from Gordon Roberts, John Perry, and Robert McDonald. Other masterclasses included Arthur Pizarro, Boris Berezovski, Vladimir Feltsman, Roberta Rust, Claude Frank, Julian Martin, and Alan Walker, among several others.

 

Dr. Vidal collaborates with renown artists from all over the world, such as violinist Eric Silberger and the Miami Chamber Orchestra with whom he performs often. He has served in the staff of FIU School of Music, University of Miami, and MDC New World School of the Arts. In addition of being an active performer, Dr. Vidal devotes a lot of his time as an arts-preneur innovating musical and art-related projects. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of South Florida Friends of Classical Music and The Arts Solutions, founding and curating more than a dozen original projects.