Born in 1998, Manuel Cini is an Italian concert pianist, musicologist, and educator. He graduated Magna cum Laude from the Conservatorio di Musica Luisa D’Annunzio (Pescara, Italy) in 2017 under the guidance of Filomena Montopoli and received an Advanced Performance Diploma at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Florence, Italy) studying with Andrea Lucchesini two years later. In 2019, he moved to London where he completed the Master of Music in Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of Music. His MMus dissertation explored the interpretation of stylistic and narrative references in Viktor Ullmann’s last three piano sonatas composed in the Theresienstadt ghetto.

Cini’s multifaceted performance career includes recitals across Europe and Asia, appearances as soloist with international orchestras, as well as extensive chamber work and international tours with New York City based Lincoln Center Stage. In 2022, he has released Franz Liszt’s 12 Études d’Exécution Transcendante for the Odradek Records.

As a music scholar, Manuel holds a Ph.D. from the University of Surrey, where he completed his thesis by focusing on the recovery and analysis of previously unknown compositions written by the Polish composer Leon Kaczmarek (1903-1978) in the Dachau Concentration Camp during the Second World War.

His findings have been disseminated through publications and lecture recitals presented to international scholarly and public audiences. This has garnered support from the World ORT Music and the Holocaust Project, the Techne AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership and a Faculty Studentship by the University of Surrey. Cini serves as the Deputy Director and Executive Board Member of the Institute of Austrian and German Music Research (IAGMR).