Paola Bruni was born in 1964 in Alfonsine (Ravenna, Italy) and started playing the piano at the age of 4 with her grandfather. She furthered her studies at the Conservatorio “G. Rossini” in Pesaro (Italy) with Franco Scala graduating in 1984 with full honours, and then had masterclasses with Bruno Canino, Jörg Demus, Nikita Magaloff, Aldo Ciccolini, Lazar Berman and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

A prizewinner in various national and international piano competitions (Osimo, Pescara, Taranto), she was awarded third prize at the 3rd UNISA International Piano Competition held in Pretoria (South Africa) in 1986 and in the same year, with a unanimous decision of the jury, won the Gold Medal at the Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition in Terni (Italy), edition dedicated to Robert Schumann.

She was at this point one of the most important talents on the European concert scene and started touring worldwide with recitals in Italy, USA, China, South Africa, Romania, Spain, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, South Korea, Holland, and including performances in Salzburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cannes and London.

She has performed as a soloist in Italy, Romania and South Africa with orchestras conducted by Emil Tchakarov, Donato Renzetti, Reinhard Schwarz, Enrique Garcia-Asensio, Omri Hadari, Ovidiu Balan, Janos Kulka and with Anton Nanut and the Lublijana Radio Orchestra. She has also been a guest artist on radio and TV broadcasts in Italy (RAI), Holland (AVRO) and South Africa (SABC).

In 1995 she collaborated on a CD series project in Vienna with the Japanese Music Conservatories recording works for piano and orchestra under the baton of Nir Kabaretti for the Deutsche Grammophone Educational label (IPSA from number 1007 to 1011). Other CD recordings include the Mozart Piano Concerto K.246 with the European Community Chamber Orchestra, conductor Eivind Aadland (IMP Classics England PCD 964) and a highly acclaimed solo piano recording of works by Scriabin, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov/Rachmaninov, Schloezer (Phoenix Classics PH 07126).

Alongside her solo career, Miss Bruni has also dedicated much time to chamber music, frequently playing with Felix Ayo, Enrico Dindo, Danilo Rossi, Kemal Gekic, Massimo Quarta, Fabrizio Meloni, Ivanna Speranza, Vittorio Cerasa, and is founder-member of the Schumann Quartet (piano quartet) and the Sunrise Trio (two saxophones and piano).

With the Italian pianist, Pasquale Iannone, she formed a highly successful duo (two pianos) making their South Korean debut in Seoul in November 2001.

In September 2002, (Teatro Piccinni, Bari) they gave the world première performance of Oneiros, a Concerto for 2 pianos, symphony orchestra and live electronics, written especially for them by the well-known composer and conductor, Carlo Franci. This was then produced on CD for the Musicaimmagine label (MR 02 PR), as was a CD (private recording – not for sale) of their live performance in the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania (Sicily).

In July 2003 the duo was awarded first prize in the Web Concert Hall International Competition (USA), and Miss Bruni received Honorary Mention as solo artist (http://www.webconcerthall.com/winners2003/winners2003.htm).

In 2005 the Bruni-Iannone duo was invited to perform in the prestigious Fazioli Concert Hall in a concert series, which also featured Aldo Ciccolini, Louis Lortie, Mario Brunello/Andrea Lucchesini, Jeffrey Swann and Angela Hewitt.

In 2008 she was awarded the Gold Medal at the Foyer des Artistes International Prize in Rome for her career and the quality of her playing, and received the Cattedrale d’Argento, a higly prestigious prize given by the Associazioni Musicali Regione Puglia, in Trani (Italy).

Miss Bruni is often invited to give masterclasses in Italy, South Africa, USA, China, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Holland, Finland, Romania and Germany and is frequently a jury member in national and international competitions (Gina Bachauer - Salt Lake City 2008, Piano Festival Competition - Shanghai 2011, Concorso Pianistico Internazionale - San Marino 2014).

She is currently Professor of Piano and faculty member of the Conservatorio “Nino Rota” in Monopoli (Italy).