26-year-old Mihály Berecz took first place at the 2023 Piano Olympiad in Kissingen. The members of the jury, who were convinced by Mihály Berecz's technical knowledge, wit, and structured and conscious interpretations, highlighted the young artist's high level of musicality and sense of style in their evaluation, the organizers announced.
Young musicians from five different countries made it to the finals of the competition. The second place went to the French Mirabelle Kajenjeri, the third and also the audience prize went to the Japanese Miyu Shindo.
The closing concert was recorded by Bajor Rádió, which was broadcast on the afternoon of October 21 by BR-Klassik and on the evening of October 27 by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
The members of the jury were music critic Thomas Ahnert, Manuel Brug, music critic of Die Welt, cultural manager Ulrich Hauschild, Sonia Simmenauer, managing director of Impresariat Simmenauer, and Alexander Steinbeis, artistic director of Kissinger Sommer.
The prize winners of the competition will be able to perform at next year's Kissinger Sommer Serious Music Festival, among other prizes. The event, founded in 1986 and held in Bad Kissingen, Germany, has previously held premieres of works by composers such as the Polish Kristof Penderecki or the French Jean Francaix, and artists such as Soviet pianist Svyatoslav Richter, Italian opera singer Cecilia Bartoli and Chinese Lang Lang have performed. pianist.
Photo: Facebook
Mihály Berecz was born in Budapest in 1997, he studied music from the age of seven. American pianists Zoltán Kocsis, Tamás Vásáry and Malcolm Bilson noticed his piano playing and individual voice early on. Winner and awardee of several Hungarian and international competitions: in 2017, Debut Berlin and II. In 2018, he won the Harriet Cohen Bach Prize of the Royal Academy of London at the Manhattan Music Competition, in 2021 he won the Liszt-Bartók Special Prize of the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich, and in the same year he also received the Junior Prima Prize. In 2023, together with the violinist Eriko Nagayama, he won the Baroque Saar prize of the Aoyama Music Foundation in Japan.
He completed part of his studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music's Pianist course with outstanding performance. He is currently a student at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, majoring in piano performance. Since last January, he has been a teacher of the chamber department of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, they wrote in the announcement.
MTI
Cover photo: Father and son - Andras Berecz and Mihály Berecz / Facebook
