János Palojtay
Piano
Janos is an artistic personality possessing many rare and important qualities: an extremely sensitive musicality, a probing intellect, a strong and independent viewpoint, charisma and charm. This couples with his musical and cultural knowledge, memory and pianistic skills give him a real possibility of being a concert artist.” Kirill Gerstein describes as such pianist János Palojtay, who has attracted the attention of the music world with his profound, powerful, y...
Janos is an artistic personality possessing many rare and important qualities: an extremely sensitive musicality, a probing intellect, a strong and independent viewpoint, charisma and charm. This couples with his musical and cultural knowledge, memory and pianistic skills give him a real possibility of being a concert artist.” Kirill Gerstein describes as such pianist János Palojtay, who has attracted the attention of the music world with his profound, powerful, yet bright and natural performances. Palojtay’s performance style is greatly influenced by the diverse and rich improvisational languages of baroque style and also by contemporary music or jazz. Similarly to his improvisation style, his classical interpretations are quite unique because of the balance between his analytical thinking and instinctiveness. As a pianist, he explores the musical texture and the depths of the composer’s language and reveals the connection between score and the performer’s instruction. He has a deep connection with Bartók, Schubert and Scriabin. On the other hand, the art of Bach, Ravel, Liszt and Chopin are also crucial for musicality.
His international career started by winning the third prize at the Paloma O’Shea Piano Competition in 2012, which was followed by solo concerts performed in renowned concert halls in Spain, France, Austria and Italy, such as the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid or the Salle Cortot in Paris. In the same year, he made his debut in Kalamazoo, in the United States, as the soloist of the Gilmore Foundation’s Rising Stars series. Since then, he has performed several times with the cellist Lev Sivkov in the most illustrious concert halls, such as in the Carnegie Hall in New York or in the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Furthermore, his important solo and chamber music performances include the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Ligeti Saal in Graz and the L’Auditori in Barcelona. Palojtay has also performed in Asia, such as India, Taiwan and South-Korea. He himself regards the Encuentro de Música in Santander, the Festspiele in Mecklenburg and the Sommerakademie in Salzburg as his most important festival appearances. Being a returning artist at the Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music has greatly contributed to his career as a young artist. He was first invited to the Marlboro Music Festival in 2018 at the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida, which had a profound impact on his musical development. He will perform again at the festival’s next season in 2019, among the world’s most prominent musicians.
In addition to Lev Sivkov, Tamás Pálfalvi, Peter Stumpf, Yura Lee, Radovan Vlatković, Zoltán Fejérvári, Susanne Schäffer, Ditta Rohmann and the Quarteto Casals have been his chamber partners, with many of whom he still performs until today. As a chamber musician, János Palojtay has always been looking for a common ground with all his partners, which enables them to step beyond their own personalities and serves the music they create.
János Palojtay has been surrounded by music from an early age. Whether playing the piano, improvising, composing or singing at home with the family, he always regarded music primarily as a game. He received his first official piano lesson at the age of 5, and studied composition for several years in secondary school. From the age of 13, he continued his studies at School of Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy of Music, where he later graduated as the student of András Kemenes and Rita Wagner. At the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Imre Rohmann was his professor and after his graduation, he developed further his musical skills under the supervision of Kirill Gerstein. All his professors were students of Ferenc Rados, whose essence-seeking musical thinking and attitude formed Palojtay’s art as well.
He gained artistic inspiration from the performances of András Schiff, whom he met while working together at Schiff’s various master classes . The young talent attracted the attention of Schiff, who invited Palojtay to the Schubertiada in Schwarzenberg and to the Wigmore Hall as well. Upon the recommendation of Schiff, Palojtay had the opportunity to perform a concert tour as a soloist at the Building Bridges 2017/2018, in leading European concert halls. The masterclasses of Murray Perahia, Claudio Martinez-Mehner and Dmitrij Bashkirov had a significant impact on his artistic development. Bashkirov re-invited him as a scholarship recipient to his masterclasses.
He debuted in the Hungarian National Opera with Christopher Hogwood in 2012. He is a frequent soloist of leading Hungarian symphony orchestras and at venues such as the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall (Müpa-Budapest), the Liszt Academy of Music and the Kodály Center of Pécs. In the last few years he performed with conductors such as Gergely Madaras, Oliver von Dohnányi, Jesus Lopez Coboz, Juanjo Mena, Gergely Vajda, Zsolt Hamar, and András Keller.
As a member of the Ludium Ensemble, he has been working intensively with the music of György Kurtág. He also gained experience as an orchestra member in cooperation with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the direction of Iván Fischer.
He is intrigued by the ways how classical music can step out of the box and become free of formalities, furthermore, how can one create an intimate concert experience for the audience. He is a regular performer in the Budapest underground scene, where he plays contemporary and jazz improvisations as well as classical pieces.
