Piano Master Course by Evgeni Koroliov at Liszt Academy

Invited by the Liszt Academy Concert Centre, Evgeni Koroliov, the piano artist renowned for his impressive personality, gives three concerts in the Grand Hall in January 2014: on 18 and 19 January he performs as the soloist of Concerto Budapest, and on 26 January he appears with the Keller Quartet. In between the performances, he is holding a master course on the works of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Chamber Hall of the Old Liszt Academy in the afternoon of 20 January. Born in 1949 in Moscow, Koroliov studied at the State Conservatorium P. I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow, moved to Yugoslavia in 1976, then emigrated to West Germany. Since 1978 he has been resident in Hamburg, where he also teaches piano at the Academy of Music and Drama. György Ligeti, who was his colleague at the Hamburg Academy, said once of Koroliov's recording of the "Art of the Fugue" on CD that if there was only one CD he could take with him to an uninhabited island, he would choose Koroliov's recording of Bach. The repertoire of the piano genius ranges from Bach, the Wiener Klassik and the works of Schubert, Chopin and Debussy to the modern classics. But for Koroliov teaching is as important as performing. "His teaching method is not that of a know-it-all. He treats his students as equal partners, and does not proclaim to be more knowledgeable than everyone. Yet, he knows far more about music than many of his colleagues who made international careers as star virtuosos. For Koroliov is concerned not with his instrument but with what comes out of it" – writes Gergely Fazekas in the January-July 2014 concert magazine of the Liszt Academy. Participation in Evgeni Koroliov's master course on 20 January 2014 is free of charge for the students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and the Bartók Béla Conservatory, whereas any other attendants are required to pay a fee of 1500 HUF. Application is possible for passive participation only, by 16 January 2014 at the latest.

However, it is not Koroliov, but Máté Szűcs who will open the series of 2014 master courses at the Liszt Academy. The viola player is holding a master course on 14 and 15 January  2014 in the studio of the György Ligeti Building. Máté Szűcs first studied violin under Ferenc Szecsődi in the Conservatory of Szeged. After changing to the viola in 1996, he became the student of Ervin Schiffer, who taught him at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo. As his most significant international competition win, he was awarded First Prize for Viola at the International Violin and Viola Competition in Liège, Belgium. In 2003 he began his career as an orchestral musician and principal violist, and became the member of various chamber ensembles such as the Con Spirito Piano Quartet, the Mendelssohn Ensemble, the Trio Dor and the Enigma Ensemble. Formerly holding the position of solo viola player in various prestigious orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, since 2011 he has played in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Between 2007 and 2009 he was a teacher at the Conservatory in Saarbrücken, and since 2006 he is professor at the "Thy Masterclass" chamber music summer course in Denmark. The master course of Máté Szűcs to be held at the Liszt Academy may be attended actively only by the students of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, for whom both active and passive participation is free of charge. Any other participants may attend the classes only passively, but also free of charge. The application deadline for all participants is 10 January 2014.

For more information on the application and other details with regard to the master course, see the above links and the Students' Notice Board on the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music student's site.