Valentin Magyar Presented by Liszt Academy

Valentin Magyar has already performed successfully in several competitions, and in 2023, he was awarded the Concorde Prize for the most talented student of the Liszt Academy, as well as the Cziffra Festival Prize, and he won a gold medal at the Vienna International Music Competition. This young pianist will present works by the two greatest figures of the late Viennese sonata style, Beethoven and Schubert. It is evident that Schubert was well-acquainted with Beethoven’s piano sonata works, as this is reflected in nearly all the movements of his Sonata in B-flat major. However, this “nearly” is crucial: Schubert’s swan song for piano opened new horizons in the history of the genre, its painful, nostalgic, and melancholic tone later being amplified by composers such as Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The evening will be introduced by an organ piece arranged for piano, Franck’s popular work, adapted by Harold Bauer. Bauer was a significant pianist and teacher in the early 20th century, and interestingly, he began his musical career as a violinist. He premiered Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in the United States and performed Debussy’s Children’s Corner cycle at its Parisian premiere.