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Alexandra Balog
Artistic Director, Piano
Teaching Philosophy
At first, I didn’t know why I created Altalena. But I felt it.
What I could tell already when I was 18 is that it was about connection — with the musicians, teachers, and friends who shaped my early years in music. Music was the force that brought us together, and connection and friendship became the heart of everything I wanted to build.
Over time, that feeling became clearer: I wanted to create a space that is human — whole, safe, varied, interesting, true, beautiful and challenging — a space that embraces both what society calls great and what it calls mistakes.
The first summer camps showed me what that could feel like: long hours of practicing and rehearsing, shared meals, football and table tennis, swimming in the lake, and ending the day with a concert. Those moments were human, real, and unforgettable—they gave me, and all of us, a sense of community that became the foundation for everything that followed.
Alongside building this space, I’ve faced my own challenges — mental, psychological, physical — many I continue to navigate and will probably be navigating for life. These experiences shaped my desire to support young musicians and artists, and to open a world where we don’t (mis)judge each other, ask enough whys to understand, and learn tools to grow and form strong connections.
Today, Altalena is a community where we nurture the well-being of performing artists, including myself, and aim to understand and sustain each other — as musicians, artists, and human beings. I believe that by nurturing art and artists, we can contribute to a healthier, more connected society, which feels more important than ever in today’s polarized world.
Biography
Pianist Alexandra Balog is celebrated by press as a pianist with “elemental force, virtuosity, and energy” (Radio Bartók’s New Music News), and “a Hungarian pianist who is a real wonder creature” (Forbes) who has played to sold out halls with standing ovations.
Winner of the 2017 Béla Bartók International Piano Competition in Graz, Alexandra Balog has since established herself as one of the most compelling pianists of her generation. She is a Fulbright Scholar, received Hungary’s most prestigious recognition for young artists, the Junior Príma Prize (2023), and was named to Forbes Hungary’s “30 under 30” list (2024). Other important honors include the Frederick Jackson Award (London, 2019) and first prize at the Franz Liszt Centre International Piano Competition in La Nucia, Spain (2024).
As a soloist, she has performed with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra, the Szent István Philharmonic, the Danube Symphony Orchestra, the Resonate Chamber Orchestra, and the Royal Academy of Music Orchestra. She has appeared in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall (New York), the Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), the Centro Nacional de las Artes (Mexico City), and La Chapelle Musicale (Brussels), with performances across Europe, the United States, Mexico, and Ecuador, as well as major cultural centers in Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In the 2025/26 season, she will appear at Salle Cortot (Paris), the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), and in Budapest, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Alexandra Balog is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Altalena Artists Collective, an international community of outstanding young musicians dedicated not only to artistic excellence but also to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of performers. The Collective presents a series of festivals, academies, and masterclasses, most prominently the Altalena Music Festival in Hungary and Tuscany, along with the Altalena Summer Academy.
Alexandra graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London under Ian Fountain (2019), was a scholar of the Hungarian Academy of Arts’ three-year program, and earned her Artist Diploma at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Markus Schirmer (2023). Currently, as a Fulbright Scholar, she is pursuing the Advanced Performance Studies program at Bard College Conservatory of Music, studying with Rieko Aizawa.
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