Use by professional musicians
The prototype of the first F308 received its first public performance in 1987, at the Teatro Comunale in Monfalcone, where French pianist François-Joël Thiollier performed both of Tchaikovsky's piano concertos.
Later that year, Lazar Berman played Liszt's Second Concerto on the F308 concert grand at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Murray Perahia also requested the same model for his concert at the Teatro Goldoni in Venice.
Toward the end of that year, Alfred Brendel chose to perform on Fazioli pianos for his Italian tour. The cooperation with the Zanussi R&D Center led to the optimization of the entire product line: the six improved models (F156, F183, F212, F228, F278, F308), which today still represent the entire Fazioli range, were showcased at the 1988 edition of the Musikmesse Frankfurt. Following the expansion and modernization, output hit six units per month in this period. In 1994, Fazioli Pianoforti attended its first exhibition at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.
In the same year, the company displayed at Music China in Shanghai. A concert grand piano was installed in the Sydney Town Hall in Australia and its debut performance came in a concert attended by Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. Fazioli pianos were also chosen for the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition in Salt Lake City.
In 1993, Indonesian pianist Ananda Sukarlan recorded his first CD, The Pentatonic Connection on the first Fazioli piano in Holland.
In 1995, the F308 model was unveiled at the NAMM Show. In June, the F308 model was presented in China, leading to the purchase of one of these instruments by the Beijing Conservatory.
In 1996, a Fazioli was chosen for concerts in the Vienna Musikverein by Ingeborg Baldaszti, Markus Schirmer, Jasminka Stancul and Elisabeth Leonskaya. The unique Brunei concert grand was built to order for the Sultan of Brunei, featuring inlays of precious stones, mother of pearl and exotic woods. In addition to standard black instruments, the company developed a series of unique art case models to cater to its most exacting customers.
In 1997, Fazioli pianos were used for the first time at Umbria Jazz, one of the world's premier jazz festivals, both for the summer edition in Perugia and the winter companion festival in Orvieto. Through Umbria Jazz, some leading jazz pianists have since become devotees of Fazioli pianos, including Herbie Hancock, Martial Solal, Brad Mehldau, Chucho Valdez, Michel Camilo, Uri Caine, Kenny Barron, Stefano Bollani, Enrico Pieranunzi, Danilo Rea.
The company's relationship with pianist Angela Hewitt became even more productive in 2003, when the artist began requesting Fazioli pianos for her world concert tours. In January 2020 her unique four-pedal F278 Fazioli was dropped by instrument movers and was considered unsalvageable by Paolo Fazioli.[5][6]
In May, Louis Lortie used a Fazioli grand piano to perform a recital in place of Maurizio Pollini at Carnegie Hall in New York, earning glowing reviews. During the same year The Economist reported that "some artists believe that Fazioli now makes the best pianos in the world".[7]
In September 2003, during a memorial ceremony for the victims of the September 11 attacks in New York City, 21 Fazioli pianos were used for the world premiere of "Sinfonia per 21 Pianoforti" by Italian composer and pianist Daniele Lombardi.
In June 2010, in an interview with Michael Gallant of Keyboard magazine, Herbie Hancock talks about his Fazioli giving him inspiration to do things.[8]
The Juilliard School, New York, bought a Fazioli grand piano in 2015 and at least two more in 2016.[9]
In the April 2020 Global Citizen One World: Together at Home benefit for COVID-19, Stevie Wonder played a Fazioli at his home.
In July 2020, Nick Cave said that after playing a Fazioli in Idiot Prayer he became so enthusiastic about it that he contacted the company asking to receive one for free, but his request was rejected.[10] Fazioli pianos are used at many piano competitions, including the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (2010, 2015, 2021, 2025), the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (2011, 2015) and the Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv (May 2014), where five out of the six finalists chose the Fazioli piano for their concerto performance. In the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in October, 2021 three of the 12 finalists played a Fazioli, including Bruce Liu, its winner.[11] In the 2025 edition, the winner, Eric Lu, played a Fazioli.[12]
