Italian-Brazilian keyboard virtuoso Marco Orsini-Brescia, skilled in piano, organ, harpsichord, and clavichord, began his musical journey at home. His father, Arnaldo Brescia, a physician, pianist, and painter, introduced him to a rich humanistic library that shaped his intellectual formation, while his mother, Denise Orsini, guided his first piano lessons at the age of six, establishing a strong technical foundation. Music quickly became the young boy’s greatest passion. He pursued further piano studies with Clotilde Lobo de Rezende, his mother’s former teacher, who visited weekly for private musical soirées, and received early guidance from Sergio Magnani, an Italian conductor close to the family. At twenty, he refined his skills with Vera Nardelli, whose mentorship led to his first prize in the 10th National Piano Competition Arnaldo Estrella, then Brazil’s most prestigious piano contest.

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In 2000, Orsini-Brescia moved to Spain after winning a scholarship to the renowned international piano course at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Santander, studying under the eminent pianist Russell Sherman. The following year, he participated in the Daroca International Early Music Course, where Spanish early keyboard master José Luis González Uriol profoundly influenced his path, introducing him to historical keyboard instruments and early music repertoire—a turning point that would shape his career as an interpreter and scholar.

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Orsini-Brescia holds a joint Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Paris IV–Sorbonne and Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (2013), earning the highest distinction, très honorable à l’unanimité, for his thesis on Spanish historic organ-building and its expansion into Portugal. That same year, he completed a master’s in Early Music / Historic Organ Performance at Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona under Javier Artigas, graduating with matrícula de honor. He also holds a master’s in Art History from Paris IV–Sorbonne (2007–2009) and a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (1995–2000). He completed post-doctoral studies in Historical Musicology at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa from 2014 to 2018.

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As a performer, Orsini-Brescia appears at leading international venues and festivals across Europe, Latin America, and beyond, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, England, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Brazil, Peru, and Panama. Since 2006, he has performed in an acclaimed duo with his wife, soprano Rosana Orsini, producing the album Angels and Mermaids: Religious Music in Oporto and Santiago de Compostela (18th–19th century) (Arkhé Music, 2016). His solo organ album, Zipoli in Diamantina: Complete Organ Works (Paraty / Harmonia Mundi, 2020), recorded on Brazil’s oldest historic organ (1787), has been highly praised by Scherzo and Diapason and broadcast on Germany’s Bayerischer Rundfunk. He also collaborated with harpist and singer Maria Bayley for Manuel Rodrigues Coelho: Flores de Musica pera o instrumento de tecla, & harpa, vol. 5, harp and clavichord (INVENTA Records / Resonus Classics, 2025).

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Orsini-Brescia exemplifies a rare blend of virtuosic command and intellectual depth: a musician who thinks like a researcher and researches like a musician. His virtuosity is not a display of speed or spectacle, but a quiet technical authority and absolute control of musical discourse—a virtuoso who does not seek to impress, but to convince. His performances embody virtuosity without ostentation, authority without noise.

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Alongside his performing career, he is a leading musicologist in Iberian organ studies, presenting at international conferences and publishing seminal works in the field. He is a Tenured researcher at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, coordinating the research group Music in the Modern Period at CESEM (Centre for Music Studies).

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In recognition of his contributions to music and scholarship, Orsini-Brescia was awarded the President Juscelino Kubitschek Medal of Honour by the Government of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil.