liszt academy artist management Portfolio 2017
liszt academy artist management Expanding further on its traditional talent-nurturing role, and capitalising on the resources of its stand-alone concert management unit established in parallel with the renovation and upgrade of facilities, which was completed in 2013, the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music has launched its own artist management programme with the aim of supporting the performing careers of a small number of students selected every year in an application-based process, helping them to establish themselves in the Hungarian and international classical music circuit. The main task of the Artist Management Office is to boost the performing careers of the selected students, providing them with assistance in developing their repertoire and concert programmes, building up their portfolios and forging relationships with the media, concert managers and talent agencies both at home and abroad. The office also assists the students in entering competitions, enrolling in courses, participating in auditions, and applying for scholarships. The President of the Liszt Academy, on the recommendation of the Heads of Departments and in consultation with the Programme Director, selects two or three exceptionally talented senior-year students every year, for induction into the Artist Management programme in the following three years.
Supported talents 2017 Mihály Demeniv Eszter Karasszon Mira Farkas Marcell Szabó Kata Scheuring Dóra Kokas Bálint Kruppa
Contact Ágnes Széll +36 30 653 9790 artist.management@lisztacademy.hu
Mihály Demeniv Accordion music has been an insepar able part of Mihály Demeniv’s life since birth. He received his first, one-octave instrument from his parents (who also play and teach the accordion) when he was only four years old. At the age of eight he won his first international competition, in Ungvár; and since then, besides numerous competitions in Hungary, he has received awards at events in Italy (in 2009 at the Citta di Castelfidardo and in 2013 at the Citta di Lanciano International Accordion Festival), Slovakia (in 2010 and 2011 at the Coupe Jeunesse competition) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (in 2013 at the Akordeon Art International Accordion Festival), among others. The general public first got to know Mihály Demeniv as a finalist and special prize-winner in the talent show Virtuosos, broadcast by Hungarian Television in 2014, when his perfor mances enabled thousands of viewers to experience accordion music in its elemental form. His incredibly wide repertoire is bound together by his dedication and immeasurable love for his chosen instrument. The works of Bach are his gospel, he plays Liszt with virtuosity, passionately interprets the music of Latin composers such as Albéniz or Piazzolla, and always finds new challenges for himself in contemporary music and jazz. He has taken the stage as soloist for symphonic orchestras a number of times, perfor ming in such major concert halls as the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy or the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, but believes it is just as important to reach audiences who may never have heard the likes of his music before.
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Mira Farkas Mira Farkas comes from a family of musicians, and was never in any doubt that she would follow in their footsteps. In 2014 she graduated with honours in Harp from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where Andrea Vigh was her mentor. Solo performances, orchestral playing and chamber music all play an important part in Mira Farkas’ life, with the various disciplines comple menting and strengthening each other. In recent years she has gained experience in the ranks of the MÁV Symphonic Orchestra, Concerto Budapest and other prestigious ensembles, under such renowned conductors as Zoltán Kocsis, KenIchiro Kobayashi or Ádám Fischer. The Romantic period is closest to her style of performance and personality; its passion and extremes represent, for her, the golden age of harp music. When it comes to chamber music, she transcribes the music for most of the pieces herself; and besides the cello, violin and flute, she also plays in the familiar harp and cimbalom duo formation with her younger sister. One of Mira Farkas’ most important accolades so far is the Junior Prima Award that she earned in 2014, in the Hungarian Music category. Already no stranger to performing abroad, the award enabled her to travel as far afield as Israel, among other places, where she gave solo performances to audiences in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. In 2016 she was awarded the Annie Fischer Performing Arts Scholarship.
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Eszter Karasszon Eszter Karasszon’s career as a cellist has already taken her all around the world. Despite her young age, not only has she given concerts in numerous European countries – including The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland – but has also perfor med in China, Israel and the United States. At eight years old she won a prize, as the youngest competitor, at her first national cello competition, and since then she’s been among the prize-winners at many Hungarian and international competitions, with her most recent triumph in 2015 at the David Popper International Cello Competition. In 2016 she graduated with honours from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. Alongside her solo career, Eszter Karasszon has also had a number of chamber music successes, and in 2013 her ensemble took the Ernő Dohányi Chamber Music Competition by storm. She doesn’t see chamber and solo playing as two distinctly separate areas of her life, however, as for her “all music is chamber music”. She regularly plays with Vilmos Szabadi, with whom she travelled to China for a tour, and recently they gave a concert together in New York. Lately she’s been exploring Shostakovich’s music in greater depth, and she played the composer’s Cello Concerto No. 1 at her diploma concert in the Large Hall of the Liszt Academy. The works of 20thcentury and contemporary Hungarian composers – Kodály, Bartók, Dohnányi, Vajda, Gárdonyi – hold a prominent place in her repertoire. She’s drawn to any situation in which she can demystify classical music, making it more accessible to people. Her credo is that Good music shouldn’t be confined to the concert hall, it deserves to be everywhere. 4
Marcell Szabó Marcell Szabó took his first official piano lessons at the age of eight, and by the time he was twelve he was studying in the Liszt Academy’s Special School for Exceptional Young Talents, under the tutelage of Gábor Eckhardt. For a long time he put at least as much energy into roller skating as playing the piano, but after a series of injuries he had to decide, and chose the piano over the extreme sport. In the 2010–2011 academic year he was a student at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and since 2012 he has continued his studies at the Doctoral School of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. The pianist, who in 2016 was awarded the Annie Fischer Scholarship and in 2015 the Junior Prima Award, has also swept up the prizes at numerous international competitions in recent years. In 2014, for example, he took 1st prize and the Contemporary Music and Orchestra Award at the International Bartók Piano Competition in Szeged and 1st prize and a special award in Paris at the 16th International Île de France Piano Competition. The success in Paris was one of the events on his “bucket list”, and led to many festival invitations, while he also got the opportunity to perform at a solo evening in the French capital. The orchestra award that he won at the Bartók competition, meanwhile, provided him with the opportunity to perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor on stage in 2015. Rachmaninoff’s music has always held an attraction for him; the unusual Russian melodies, forms and harmonies are especially close to his heart.
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Bálint Kruppa Bálint Kruppa started playing the violin at the age of seven, which was also when he joined the Schola Hungarica Gregorian children’s choir led by László Dobszay. From the age of eleven he studied at the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy under the tutelage of Eszter Perényi, who remained his most important mentor throughout his years at the Academy. He also studied musical composition. Academic study plays an important part in his life, so since 2016 he has been studying at the Liszt Academy Doctoral School, where he has chosen the violin works of Stravinsky as the theme of his doctorate – Stravinsky’s practical artistic approach, grounded in reality and the present, is extremely close to his heart. As the concertmaster of the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra he gained valuable orchestral experience under the direction of Zoltán Kocsis, among others. At present he is concentrating mainly on chamber music, regularly performing new pieces with his ensemble, the Kruppa String Quartet. In 2013 he played at the Lockenhaus Kammerfest, and is a regular performer at contemporary music events such as the Hallgatás Napja (Day of Listening) festival, or the Arcus Temporum Festival in Pannonhalma. In 2015 he won the Annie Fischer Scholarship, the Gundel Award for the Arts and the Junior Prima Award. His performance of Bartók’s Violin Concerto represented an important milestone in his career, and one of his most prominent plans for the future is to perform Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto which, alongside Bartók’s, he considers to be the most important work of the 20th century in this genre. 6
Dóra Kokas Dóra Kokas was born into a family of musicians, where she grew up surrounded by a love of music. She entered her first cello competition at the age of seven, and since then her achievements as a soloist have included 1st prize at the Hamburg Debut International Cello Competition 2017, 2nd prize in the International Johannes Brahms Competition 2016, and two special prizes at the 2014 Pablo Casals International Cello Competition. She graduated in 2016 from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where Miklós Perényi was her mentor. At present she is studying at the Razumovsky Academy in London, under the tutelage of Oleg Kogan. Despite her young age, Dóra Kokas is a highly experienced chamber musician, and started her string quartet playing at seventeen as the cellist in the Kelemen Quartet. This ensemble took first prize in such prestigious events as the Premio Paolo Borciani international string quartet competition, one of the largest of its kind in the world, or the Beijing International String Quartet Competition. Although she decided in 2015 to leave the Kelemen Quartet for a while to concentrate on her solo career, chamber music retains an important role in her life. As a chamber musician she regularly plays together with Joshua Bell, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicholas Altstaedt, Maxim Rysanov, Vilde Frang, José Gallardo or Péter Frankl to name just a few. She’s played on the stage of Wigmore Hall, the Hamburg Laeiszhalle, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Salzburg Mozarteum, but nevertheless her closest ties are to the Grand Hall of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. 7
Kata Scheuring Kata Scheuring was in her final year at one of Budapest’s top grammar schools, majoring in literature and French, when she decided to embark on a musical career. In 2001 she won 1st prize at the Vilmos Bántai Flute Competition, and it was here that Zoltán Gyöngyössy heard her and spoke appreciatively of her perfor mance. Six months later he enrolled her in his class at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. As an under graduate she performed successfully at several Hungarian and international competitions, in 2013 winning 3rd prize in the V.S. Antonov International Competition of Woodwind Instrument Performers in Kiev, and 2nd prize and the audience award in the Anton Eberst Competition in 2013, while in 2015 she came 2nd in the Gheorghe Dima International Flute Competition. Her repertoire is especially rich in 20th-centry works, and she is attracted to French music in particular. She has performed at concerts in many European countries both as a soloist and as a player in international orchestral projects such as the tours of the EUYO or EUphony orchestras. At the Finnish Sibelius Academy, as a part of the Erasmus programme, she studied for six months in the class of Petri Alanki, and also gave an independent solo evening concert in Helsinki. In December 2016, she took the stage at the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy as soloist for the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy, to perform Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G major. She is always actively seeking out new challenges, whether in the form of a solo evening, a chamber or orchestral concert.
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Impressum Publisher: Dr. Andrea Vigh, President of the Liszt Academy Editor-in-chief: Imre Szabó Stein Publication manager: Zsuzsanna Könyves-Tóth Written by: Anna Belinszky Layout: ALLISON Advertising Photo: Misi Kondella Commissioned by the Communications Directorate of the Liszt Academy Finalized: 22 February 2017 Liszt Academy Concert Centre (1061 Budapest, Liszt Ferenc tér 8.) lisztacademy.hu/artist-management