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Zoltán Fejérvári
Piano
Teaching Philosophy
Biography
Zoltán Fejérvári is one of the most interesting young talents of the Hungarian music scene in recent years. Winner of the 2017 Montreal Piano Competition, he was awarded the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Scholarship in 2016. He has given recitals in prestigious concert halls throughout Europe and the Americas, such as Carnegie Hall, Canada’s Place des Arts, Gasteig in Munich, Lingotto in Turin, Palau de Música in Valencia, Biblioteca Nacional in Buenos Aires, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest.

As a soloist, he has worked with orchestras such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Verbier Chamber Orchestra, and Concerto Budapest, and with distinguished conductors including Iván Fischer, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Mathias Bamert, Kensho Watanabe, and Zoltán Kocsis. Fejérvári’s debut Janáček solo album, released in January 2019, was enthusiastically received by critics, with Gramophone calling it "the most sensitive and profound recording" of the composer’s works. His most recent recording of Schumann was released by Atma Classique in May 2020 and was again praised by Gramophone.

The 2019–2020 season included chamber music, recitals, and orchestral performances spanning five centuries of repertoire. He began the season with a recital at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, interpreting works by Bartók, Jörg Widmann, and Schumann, followed by chamber music concerts. In November 2019, Fejérvári made his debut at Performing Arts in Washington, DC, performing works by Janáček, Schubert, and Chopin. He also debuted with the Howland Chamber Music Circle in Beacon, New York, the Frederic Chopin Society in Minnesota, the Sanford Hill Piano Series at Western Washington University, and the Norfolk & Norwich Music Society in the UK.

This past season was rich in orchestral performances, including Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the San Antonio and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, J.S. Bach’s Piano Concertos in D minor and A major with the Czech Philharmonic, Dohnányi’s Variations on a Children’s Song with Concerto Budapest conducted by András Keller, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 conducted by Mátyás Antal with the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra of Miskolc. As a chamber musician, he collaborated with the Elias Quartet on performances with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and with violinist Diana Tishchenko in Aix-en-Provence and La Chaux-de-Fonds. He was also a guest at the Brooklyn Chamber Music Festival.

Fejérvári has given recitals at prestigious venues such as Classical Spree, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Festival, and the Lucerne Festival, where he was commissioned by his mentor András Schiff to play contemporary and Baroque works. He performed in the Rising Stars series at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and at the Vancouver Centre for the Performing Arts in British Columbia. At Schiff’s request, he participated in the "Building Bridges" series, which showcases young pianists of exceptional talent, performing in Berlin, Bochum, Brussels, Zurich, and Ittingen during the 2017–2018 season.

He has been a guest of renowned orchestras such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 15, conducted by Iván Fischer in Budapest and Warsaw. At the Liszt Academy, Fejérvári performed Bach’s Piano Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056, and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 35. He has collaborated with the Keller and Kodály String Quartets, violinist Joseph Lin and András Keller, cellists Gary Hoffman, Christopher Richter, Ivan Moneghetti, Frans Helmerson, and Steven Isserlis, and horn player Radovan Vlatković, among others.

Fejérvári is a regular performer at the Chamber Music Connects the World programme in Kronberg, Prussia Cove's Open Chamber Music, Lisztomania in Châteauroux, the Tiszadob Piano Festival, and the Encuentro de Música de Santander in Spain. At the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida, he participated in the Marlboro Music Festival in the summers of 2014 and 2016 and toured the Americas with his Marlboro-based ensemble in 2017–18 and 2018–19.

Fejérvári’s first solo album with works by Janáček was released in 2019 by Piano Classics, featuring pieces such as In the Woven Paths, In the Mist, and the Piano Sonata 1905. His 2013 Hungaroton recording of Liszt’s Malédiction with the Weiner-Szász Chamber Symphony Orchestra won the Grand Prix du Disque. His Mozart recording with Ernő Kállai was also released by Hungaroton in 2014.
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