Having reached its 20th edition, the Hungarian Music Festival will open with an exceptional cultural event: an extraordinary recital by Ana Silvestru, the winner of the first edition of the festival. The event, organized by the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center Bucharest, will take place at Sala Radio on Sunday, May 12, starting at 6:00 p.m. The pianist's guests are important names in European music: Matvey Demin, the first flautist in history to win the First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in the wind instrument section (2019), pianist Giulio Biddau and percussionists Matthias Kessler and Luca Staffelbach. The concert is made in partnership with the Ana Silvestru Classics Association, the Romanian Broadcasting Society and the Liszt Institute – the Hungarian Cultural Center in Bucharest. Tickets, on entertix.ro, myticket.ro, in Cărturesți bookstores and at the Radio Hall Ticket Office.
In the program are true milestones of chamber music, as they are Sonata Qn A major for flute ANDand piano by César Franck or Prelude to afterUm-noon of a faun for flute and piano by Calude Debussy, Sonata for twoUm Pianos ANDand percussÞi.e. Sz. 110 by Béla Bartók or Iisre l'oye by Maurice Ravel in the version for two pianos and percussion.
“I chose for ediÞtake tributeUm of the Hungarian Music Festival a program that sUm honor the spirit ofâopen t by master Ludovic Bacs, acUmrui Qtrust ANDi preÞire were very important to me. I designed this time schedule Qin the spirit of one “tomb“that pieceUm memorialUm from the French Baroque, reinterpretedUm more tâlaugh by Maurice Ravel”, declares Ana Silvestru.
The pianist also shows that she chose to start the recital with Sonata Qn A Major“she Qn.sI wouldand the gift that Cit issar Franck gave it to Eug's weddingisno Ysaÿe”, continuing with two of the most beloved masterpieces of musical literature, The prelude to afterUm noon of a faun by Claude Debussy, in Gustave Samazeuilh's version for flute and piano, and Iisre l'oye by Maurice Ravel, arranged for two pianos with added percussion by the late Peter Sadlo. Sonata for twoUm Pianos ANDand percussÞiewith which the recital will continue, is one of the most difficult and “feared” works in musical literature, which makes it all the more appropriate to honor the spirit of Ludovic Bacs, who, over the decades, “explored completely unknown musical worlds ANDand among the most diverse“, says Ana Silvestru.
Who are the artists?
ANA SILVESTRU “I thought an orgy was going to start” quotes Dana Grigorcea, laureate of the Swiss Book Prize, in the article “Selbstbefragung ohne Ende”, published in Die Presse and Kulturtipp, inspired by the “Shadows and Archetypes” recital, which included the solo piano transcription of Ana Silvestru's “Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky.
Ana Silvestru PHOTO Nicolas Hudak
Ana Silvestru's international career began with a series of recitals in Paris, facilitated by winning the Hungarian Music Festival. Over the years, Ana Silvestru has performed as a soloist and in chamber recitals with artists such as Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Fabio di Casola, Quinn Kelsey, Olga Kulchynska, Christina Daletska, Tamas Henter, Ștefan Tarara, Matvey Demin, Thomas Grossenbacher, Lionel Cottet, Andrei Ioniță, Johannes Schlaefli, Chin Chao Lin, Serghei Polunin, etc., on some of the most prestigious stages in Romania, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, Poland, Hungary, Serbia , Czech Republic, Israel, Japan, Morocco or Bhutan. Ana Silvestru completed her undergraduate studies in the class of professor Viniciu Moroianu at UNMB. After graduating with the highest honors from his master's studies at the University of the Arts in Zurich, he also obtained the prestigious diploma of concert soloist (both in the class of Professor Konstantin Scherbakov). Over the years he has benefited from the guidance and support of artists such as Lazar Berman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Daniel Fueter, Larissa Gergieva, Margreet Honig, Radovan Vlatkovic, Bernard Ringeissen, Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling.
MATTHEW DEMIN. The first flautist in history to win the 2019 First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, wind instrument category, was born in Siberia in 1993, where he began studying music with his grandmother, continuing his education with Andrea Lieberknecht in Munich and Hanover.
Matvey Demin PHOTO www.matveydemin.com
He is a laureate of international competitions such as «Aeolus», ARD (Munich), the Krakow International Flute Competition, the Unisa International Competition, etc. From 2022 he is principal flutist of the SWR Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, and from 2023 he is flute teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. As a soloist he performed with the Tonhalle Zürich Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2019 he toured Japan under the baton of maestro Valeri Gergiev. Being an accomplished performer of the chamber repertoire, Matvey Demin is regularly invited to festivals such as: Pyeongchang Music Festival, Molyvos Festival, Flute Virtuosi Festival, Davos Festival, «PAAX GNP» Festival. From October 2021 Matvey Demin is an exclusive Yamaha artist.
GIULIO BIDDAU. Born in Cagliari, he studied with Arlette Giangrandi Eggmann and graduated in piano at the Conservatory of his hometown. He specialized in Paris with Jean Marc Luisada at the École Normale and then with Aldo Ciccolini and Dominique Merlet. He attended the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin and obtained the diploma with the highest distinction conferred by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Sergio Perticaroli.
Giulio Biddau PHOTO www.giuliobiddau.com
He is a laureate of international competitions such as Casagrande in Terni, the International Piano Competition in Tbilisi, Iturbi in Valencia, obtaining the First Prize at the “Les Nuits Pianistiques – Lauréats SPEDIDAM” Competition in Aix-en-Provence. He has performed on some of the most prestigious stages in Germany, Slovenia, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden, China, Chile, Australia and Argentina and performed as a soloist under his baton. He sang under the baton of Lawrence Foster, François-Xavier Roth, Tan Dun, Damian Iorio, Silvia Massarelli, Filippo Maria Bressan with important European orchestras. In 2018 and 2021 he was awarded by the Association of Music Critics of Argentina.
LUCA STAFFELBACH. He graduated from the University of the Arts in Zürich under the guidance of professors Raphael Christen, Benjamin Forster, Klaus Schwärzler, Rainer Seegers and Martin Grubinger. He has extensive experience as a soloist, chamber music performer and in orchestral ensembles, in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, KKL Luzern or Tonhalle Zürich.
Luca Staffelbach PHOTO Akvilė Šileikaitė
As a soloist he performed in the company of such orchestras as the Wellington Orchestra, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the City Light Orchestra from Lucerne or the Kammerorchester Arpeggione Hohenems. He is a founding member of the chamber group Trio Colores, awarded and highly appreciated for projects that fascinate with overflowing originality and refined musicality. Luca Staffelbach's arrangements and compositions have already been performed in the USA, Latin America, Sicily, Finland and Switzerland.
MATTHIAS KESSLER. Born in Feldkirch, Austria, Matthias Kessler completed his undergraduate studies at the University of the Arts in Zürich under the guidance of Professors Klaus Schwärzler, Benjamin Forster, Raphael Christen and Martin Grubinger.
Matthias Kessler PHOTO Peter Damik
After graduation he received a scholarship to the Karajan Academy of the Philharmonic in Berlin, where he studied with Jan Schlichte and Wieland Welzel. From 2021, Kessler continues his master studies at the Hans Eisler University of Music with professors Franz Schindlbeck and Rainer Seegers. Since January 2022, he has been the principal timpanist and first percussionist of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, being often invited to the most important European orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Tonhalle Zürich Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Matthias Kessler is co-founder and member of Trio Colores.
