Musica da “linkare”: pianisti e nuovi-nuovissimi media

The essay focuses on both new and established strategies of media promotion and/or self-promotion adopted by pianists from different generations: some already active during the era of "paleotelevision"—that is, the early years of Italian public television, particularly the 1960s and 1970s—others more accustomed to social media and thus open to a rich and varied array of tools and platforms for self-presentation and the communication of classical music. For each selected case—Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Maurizio Baglini, Roberto Prosseda, and Beatrice Rana—one or more keywords were identified, listed in the section headings, aiming to summarize the predominant characteristics of each artist’s media portrayal. To this end, the analysis includes and compares newspaper articles, reviews, interviews, documentaries, audiovisual productions, direct statements by the musicians (some given directly to the author), and specific social media activities. The essay ultimately raises questions about the role of the classical pianist today, and the necessity for such artists to possess entrepreneurial skills and master media dissemination strategies—not only to promote themselves, but also to spread classical music culture to a broad, non-specialist audience.