PERFORMERS:
- Daniel Buranovský, piano
- Dagmar Podkamenská, soprano
- Róbert Pechanec, piano accompaniment
- Jozef Horváth, violin
- Evgeny Irshai, composer/piano
- Markéta Štefková, musicologist, the project manager
Link to Facebook event
PROGRAM:
EUGEN SUCHOŇ (1908 – 1993)
From Metamorphosis ESD 77, No. 4 Larghetto
Daniel Buranovský, piano
LADISLAV HOLOUBEK (1913 – 1994)
Youth Op. 19
Ballad of Happiness
Vers about Klára
Somnambul
Youth
Dagmar Podkamenská, soprano
Róbert Pechanec, piano
ĽUDOVÍT RAJTER (1906 – 2000)
Romantic Rondo for Violin and Piano
Jozef Horváth, violin
Daniel Buranovský, piano
VLADIMÍR GODÁR (1956)
Grave, passacaglia for piano
Daniel Buranovský, piano
MIKULÁŠ SCHNEIDER-TRNAVSKÝ (1881 – 1958)
Lullaby from the cycle Tears and Smiles, op. 25
Dagmar Podkamenská, soprano
Róbert Pechanec, piano
EVGENY IRSHAI (1951)
Cries and Whispers for piano
Evgeny Irshai, piano
ILJA ZELJENKA (1932 – 2007)
Musica Slovaca for Violin and Piano
Jozef Horváth, violin
Daniel Buranovský, piano
HANUŠ DOMANSKÝ (1944)
Slovakophonie (dedicated to D. Buranovský)
Daniel Buranovský, piano
Daniel BURANOVSKÝ, piano
graduated with honours from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in the class of Prof. Miloslav Starosta. He was awarded the Prize of the Slovak Minister of Education for his excellent studies and artistic achievements. Even while studying at the Academy he participated in various international competitions, where he won numerous prizes. His career of a concert pianist includes performances at many events, solo recitals and chamber concerts, both in his home country and abroad. He has taken part in various international music festivals: Bratislava Music Festival, Central European Music Festival in Žilina, Silesian Days of Contemporary Music in Katowice (Poland) and Festival of Czech Music in Bonn (Germany) among them. As a solo pianist, he has worked with the following orchestras: Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice, The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn. He has performed in many European countries, e.g. Germany, Austria, Italy, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, but also in the USA, Argentina and Vietnam. He has participated in performing courses at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Currently he is a sought-after and respected chamber partner of many professional musicians – for example he is cooperating with exceptionally talented violinist Dalibor Karvay, the laureate of several international competitions. He is collaborating with the Slovak National Opera House soloists – M. Babjak, the laureate of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia, M. Dvorský, and Ľ. Vargicová – with whom he performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall in November 2003, and many others. Since 2001 he has been a member of the Alea ensemble, focusing on the performance of the works of Astor Piazzolla and Slovak composers.
During his career he has recorded a lot of albums as a soloist, as well as with various chamber musicians. In 1999 he released a CD with the ballades of F. Chopin and a representative CD of the University in Daegu, South Korea as a soloist accompanied by the University’s orchestra. In 2003 he recorded the music of the Slovak composer Miro Bázlik – 24 Piano Preludes. For this CD he was awarded the Frico Kafenda Prize for the promotion of Slovak music. Mr. Buranovský has made many recordings for the Slovak Radio and Television. In 2011 he released a solo album with the music of Franz Liszt and he premiered the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by M. Bázlik.
In the years 1999 and 2000 he was a visiting Professor of Music (piano) at the Catholic University of Daegu-Hyosung in South Korea.
Daniel Buranovský is a lecturer at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, where he has been the Head of the Department of Keyboard Instruments since 2003. He teaches the piano and leads the performance seminar.
In 2012 he was named Professor of Music by the President of the Slovak Republic.
Róbert PECHANEC, piano
studied the piano at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava in the class of Daniel Buranovský. He started to devote himself to co-operation and piano coaching with vocal artists in 1990. He has participated actively in masterclasses in piano accompaniment under the guidance of Brigitte Fassbaender and Wolfram Rieger in Bern (Switzerland). In years 2004 and 2005, he was awarded the Special Prize for the best piano accompanist at the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in Carlsbad (Czech Republic) and in 2008 he achieved the same acknowledgement at the M. Schneider-Trnavský International Vocal Competition. His concert activities include performances in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, among others. In years 2000 – 2004, Róbert Pechanec worked as a piano accompanist and music director of several productions at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. In the course of this Festival, he also gave recital performances with distinguished soloists (e. g, Daniela Bruera, Igor Tarasov, Konstantin Andreev, Ekaterina Gubanova, Tatiana Monogarova, Larisa Kostyuk, Markus Werba, Brandon Jovanovich). He regularly co-operates especially with topmost Slovak soprano Adriana Kučerová, distinguished Slovak tenor Pavol Breslik and bass Štefan Kocán. In 2009, Róbert Pechanec together with the soprano Mária Fajtová, undertook successful tour in Cambodia and in November of the same year, he toured Mexico with soloists Sabrina Morales and Fernando Ciuffo. In the years 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2009, he was engaged at Opernwerkstatt Laubach and Sigriswil co-operating with Verena Keller. This collaboration brought him further engagements in Frankurt am Main’s Opera House in the productions of operas by Janáček, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. He has been active as a pedagogue of piano playing at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Bratislava Academy of Performing Arts. In May 2014 together with Pavol Breslik he released a CD with songs of Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský, and in April 2017 CD Songs, with works of Antonín Dvořák.
Evgeny IRSHAI, composer
studied at the Leningrad Conservatory – composition with A. A. Tchernov and V. Uspensky and piano with P. A. Serebriakov. As a pianist he performed in Spain, USA, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, etc. He taught at the Special Music School of the Leningrad/St. Petersburg Conservatory until 1991.
In 1991 he left St. Petersburg for Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) where he lived until 2007, then moved to Bratislava. His years in Banská Bystrica were very dynamic. He was not only composing actively but was also giving concerts as an outstanding pianist. Trying to bring more contemporary music to the cultural life of the region, in 1997 he founded the international festival of contemporary art Music Salons. The festival still takes place biennially and it has already hosted dozens of eminent performers from around the world.
Irshai’s works were performed in the Academic Little Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad (present-day Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre), at several international festivals (St. Petersburg Musical Spring festival, festivals in Krakow, Italy, Bulgaria, Melos-Ethos festival in Bratislava and in other countries, e.g. Japan, USA).
He has recently been composing more and more at the request of prominent Slovak and foreign performers, e.g. Milan Paľa (violin, SK), Aleksander Gabryś (double bass, PL), Zuzana Paulechová (piano, SK), Daniel Buranovský (piano, SK), Ladislav Fanzowitz (piano, SK), Peter Katina (accordion, SK), Terézia Kružliaková (mezzo-soprano, SK), Pavol Breslik (tenor, SK), Róbert Pechanec (piano, SR), conductors Peter Feranec (SK), Aziz Shokhakimov (DE), Peter Gribanov (RU), Alexander Chernushenko (RU), Mario Košik (SK), Rastislav Štúr (SK), Viktoria Żadko (UA) and ensembles and orchestras, e.g. Aleph Ensemble (France), Nostri Temporis (UA), Symphony Orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow, etc.
He is a laureate of the “Youth, Mastership, Present” competition for the work Epigraphs for mixed choir a cappella on the poetry of Arseny Tarkovsky (Leningrad, 1985), and for the work The Day Will Come for mezzo-soprano and piano on the poetry of Russian poets (1986). Among his other prizes we may mention the Ján Levoslav Bella Award for the trio Hard-Shabes (SR, 2000), Dezider Zador Award for Sonata del grato (UA, 2008), the first prize at The Composers Competition “Choir Laboratory. XXI Century” (St. Petersburg, in 2013, and the third prize in 2014) and a special prize at the International Music Festival “Planeta Contrabass” (St. Petersburg 2014).
Since 2001 Irshai has been lecturing the composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (since 2010 as a professor) being the head of the Department of Composition and Conducting since 2011.
His students have been awarded many prizes and diplomas at international competitions.
Jozef HORVÁTH, violin
was among the last pupils of the Professor Albín Vrteľ at the Bratislava State Conservatory. As early as during his studies he was awarded at many competitions at home and abroad (Competition of the Slovak Conservatories 1994, 1996; North London Festival, Karol Dobiáš Award and others). He was a holder of several scholarships enabling him to participate in international masterclasses which distinctively influenced his further artistic development (led by E. Gratch, I. Bezrodny, I. Händel, V. Liberman, M. Minchev, G. Pauk, M. Quarta, J. Kantorov, N. Grumlíková, and others). During his studies at the Bratislava Academy of Performing Arts in the class of Jozef Kopelman (1996–2003) he went through a 2-year study stay at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas (USA) where he was taught by a distinguished American violin teacher Dr. Eduard Schmieder. He finished his Dallas studies by the Artist Certificate. Graduating from the Bratislava Academy he enrolled at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna in the class of Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartett member). In 2003–2011 he worked as a soloist and concertmaster of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga (Spain). There he founded Cuarteto Alborán, with which he regularly performed on concert stages in Spain. Simultaneously he was active as a teacher. In 2013 he concluded his doctoral studies at the Department of String and Wind Instruments of the Bratislava Academy (Jozef Kopelman). Since 2011 he has been teaching at the Bratislava Conservatory and since 2014 at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. In 2014 he won the position of the concertmaster of the Slovak Philharmonic. Since 2016 he has been the first violinist of the Moyzes Quartet.
Dagmar PODKAMENSKÁ BEZAČINSKÁ, soprano
studied opera singing at the Žilina Conservatory (Ľubica Šestáková) and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (Prof. Vlasta Hudecová). Then she continued her doctoral studies at the Academy and went through a 2-year study stay at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (Prof. Ariane Hollaender-Calix, Mag. Ursula Preier-Raunacher, Victoria Mendes).
As a guest soloist she has performed in operas in the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava (The Players – Ofélia), Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno (Martha – Martha, Carmen – Frasquita), Jonáš Záborský Theatre in Prešov (Gasparone – Sora) and in the State Opera Banská Bystrica (Martin and the Sun – The Cold Princess, The Merry Wives of Windsor – Anna, Blue Rose – Janette, The Earth of Smiles – Mi).
She has collaborated with the Slovak Philharmonic, The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice, Slovak Radio Folk Instruments Orchestra Bratislava, Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina, Slovak Radio and Television, she led the international masterclasses at Musica Arvenzis.
She has been teaching opera singing at the Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, bringing up the young generation of singers (e.g. Pavol Kubáň, Michaela Popik-Kušteková, Martina Masaryková, Andrea Vizvári-Čajová, Zuzana Šveda-Dunajčanová, Patrícia Solotruková, Šarūnas Šapalas...)
Markéta ŠTEFKOVÁ, musicology completed her studies in music theory at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and at the Musicological Institute of the University of Hamburg. Since 2003, she has been teaching music theory, analysis, aesthetics and theory of music performance at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. From 2009 to 2015, she worked at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In 2015, she became Professor of Musical Art. She is the author of three monographs and many scholarly studies. She regularly gives lectures at music academies and universities in Slovakia and abroad – in Hannover, Leipzig, Bern, Zurich, Oxford, Vienna, Katowice, Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Budapest, Copenhagen, Bergen, Berlin. On the occasion of anniversaries of important personalities, she has organised several international artistic research projects and conferences, resulting in anthologies (2008 Hummel, 2010 Chopin, 2011 Liszt, 2013 Jozef Kresánek). In 2015, she organised the international Grieg Day project at the Academy of Performing Arts, from which she published a collective monograph in 2016. She is a member of the Edvard Grieg International Society, holding the office of a Deputy Member of the Executive Committee since August 2013.