Born in Verona (Italy), Silva Manfrè studied piano, organ and composition at the conservatory of her hometown as well as at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna under Michael Radulescu. She also studied musicology at the Universities of Pavia (I) and Vienna (A). She completed her degree with a thesis on the organ compositions of Arnold Schönberg, Olivier Messiaen und Paul Hindemith. Silva Manfrè attended numerous masterclasses, particularly in historical performance practice, with renowned musicians such as Gaston Litaize, Guy Bovet, Bernard Brauchli, Esteban Elizondo, Harald Vogel, Lorenzo Ghielmi, and Paolo Crivellaro.
Her international concert activities as a soloist and chamber musician have taken her to Italy (including among others the Asiago Festival Internazionale, Festival di Musica Antica di Magnano, Organfestival of Alessandria, Venice, Mantua, Festival Serassi), Austria (such as Wiener Orgelkonzerte, Orgelkonzerte von Jeunesse und ORF / Radio Ö1, „Music for a while. Alte Musik in Bludenz“, »donauFESTWOCHEN im Strudengau«), France (Festival International Orgues d’Été de Bordeaux), Hungary, the Czech Republic, Switzerland (Festival Antegnati – Bellinzona, Rassegna Organistica Valmaggese), Spain, the Principality of Andorra, and Slovenia.
Silva Manfrè has recorded for the Austrian Broadcasting (ORF), radio klassik Stephansdom and the European Broadcasting Union. In 2022, she released Ricercate per sonar d’Organo (1585) by Ottavio Bariolla under Brilliant Classics. This was followed in 2023 by Prototypon longo-breve organicum (1703–1707) by Franz Xaver Anton Murschhauser, which was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award (Longlist 03/2023).
Silva Manfrè has collaborated with contemporary composers such as Michael Radulescu, Wolfgang Sauseng, Karl Schnürl, Paul Koutnik, Victor Estapé, and Pier Damiano Peretti. Since 2018, Silva Manfrè has been teaching master classes in organ, chamber music, and basso continuo at the Festival Musica Antica Magnano in Piedmont (Italy).
Previously serving as organist for the Cappella musicale of Padua Cathedral (Italy), Silva Manfrè has been the organist at St. Thekla Church of the Piarists in Vienna since 1998.
05/2025
Foto: Silva Manfrè (© Julia Wesely)
