Contributors of the Bartók World Competition & Festival

Orchestra and conductor of the Final

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

The now world-renowned group were established by final-year students of the Liszt Academy in 1963. Over the past more than half a century they have toured 50 countries and appeared at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House and Théatre de la Ville in Paris. Their remarkable achievements have been rewarded on multiple occasions, for instance, they received the Hungaroton Prize in 2001.

Gergely Ménesi

The conductor of the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra graduated with honours from the conducting department of the university in 1997. Just one year later he was placed second at the 9th Ferencsik János International Conductor Competition. As leader of the university orchestra, he has performed in Katowice and at the gala concert of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, among others. Besides leading the Liszt Academy ensemble he is also conductor of the Orchestra of the Széchenyi István University in Győr and Zugló Philharmonics Budapest.

Orchestra of the Grand Final and the Gala Concert

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

One of the longest-established ensembles in Hungary began to coalesce from the 1930s, although their official debut only occurred under the baton of founder of the orchestra Ernő Dohnányi on 7 October 1943. In the more than 70 years since, the orchestra have taken part in countless concert tours, for instance to Great Britain, North America, Japan and Taiwan. They have appeared on stage in partnership with many great conductors and soloists including Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Claudio Abbado, György Solti, David Oistrakh and Lamberto Gardelli. Aside from their concerts, they have won themselves a place among the cream of orchestras with radio, television and album recordings of virtually the entire symphonic, opera and oratorio repertoire. Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra regular participate in finals and gala concerts of international music competitions. Their current principal conductor is János Kovács, and Tamás Vásáry acts as their honorary music director and advisor.

Conductor of the Grand Final and the Gala Concert

János Kovács

The conductor, born in 1951, graduated from the Liszt Academy as a student of András Kórodi and Albert Simon in 1973. Immediately thereafter he contracted with the Hungarian State Opera House, initially as répétiteur, then from 1976 as conductor. Between 1979–1981, he was music assistant of the Bayreuth Festival on three occasions. Between 1987–1990, he was principal conductor of the Opera House, in addition to which he acted as guest conductor for two grand orchestras based in Budapest, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and from 2001 Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. He regularly conducts abroad, he was principal conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic and, from 1992, guest conductor with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been leader of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2014. His achievements have been acknowledged with the following major prizes: Liszt Ferenc Prize (1984), Kossuth Prize (2001), Bartók–Pásztory Prize (2006).

Accompanists

Imre Dani

Pianist Imre Dani reached great heights even during his years spent studying at the Liszt Academy: in 2011 he won a Yamaha scholarship and in 2014 he finished first at the 21st Johannes Brahms International Competition. In the same year, he and four fellow students formed the chamber music-playing Weiner Ensemble, and they have drawn attention to themselves because of their unusual instrumental line-up and quirky choice of programmes: at the Orlando International Chamber Music Competition staged in August 2016 they took the bronze medal. Imre Dani finished his masters degree in 2015, since when he has had a string of professional successes, culminating in first prize at the 26th International Chopin Competition in 2016.

Anna Granik

Born in Zagreb in 1977. She was barely 11 when she won first place at the 5th Yugoslav National Competition, and in the same year she was taken on to the Preparatory Class of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, where she was taught first by Zsuzsa Esztó and later by László Baranyay. She has taken part in master classes by Lívia Rév, Rudolf Kehrer, Vladimir Babadzhan, Eugen Indjic, Lóránd Fenyves and Dora Schwartzberg. She regularly gives concerts in Hungary and Europe.

Zsuzsanna Homor

She graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 2000 and then took her DLA here as well. Currently she is an assistant professor of the Liszt Academy. In 1998, she came first at the Földes Andor Piano Competition, in 1999 she won the Bartók prize at the Prague-Vienna-Budapest Festival, and she was recipient of the Fischer Annie Scholarship between 2002–2003. She has played in many cities throughout Europe, in the United States and Hong Kong. Her repertoire features a broad range of significant piano and chamber music pieces, and she embraces the opportunity of interpreting contemporary pieces, too. She released her first recording with Hungaroton in 2005.

Mária Kovalszki

She was just 10 when she won admission to the preparatory class of the Liszt Academy, which she completed under the tutelage of Klára Máthé and László Baranyay. In the course of her studies she participated in many master classes including those run by Tamás Vásáry, Dmitri Bashkirov and András Schiff. In 1989, she won first prize at the Budapest Weiner Leó National Chamber Music Competition. Her repertoire spans Baroque to contemporary music with a special emphasis on chamber music. Since 1989 she has worked in the Strings Department of her alma mater alongside famous violin and cello professors. She has given concerts throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, and is a permanent guest of top-class festivals.

Emese Mali

She graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 2004 as a student of György Nádor and Márta Gulyás. Parallel with her studies at the Liszt Academy she was also auditor in the class of Imre Rohmann at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She was awarded a DLA from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 2011. She regularly works with András Keller and Concerto Budapest, Zoltán Rácz and UMZE Chamber Ensemble, and she also appears in chamber music productions of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. She has been a répétiteur of the Liszt Academy since 2010.