NOTES OF THE WANDERERS
Lisztomania
Tuesday, 2011 November 15th , 7PM
Great Guild Hall
Lisztomania – GALA concert
Three Grand Prix winners of the International Franz Liszt piano competitions-2011
Alexander Ullman, Great Britain, the winner of the International Franz Liszt piano competition in Budapest
Masataka Goto, Japan, the winner of the International Franz Liszt piano competition in Utrecht
Gábor Farkas, Hungary, the winner of the International Franz Liszt piano competition in Weimar
Program – Franz Liszt’s music
Alexander Ullman, born 1991 in England, studied at the Purcell School of Music. In 2009 he was offered a place at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and is studying with Leon Fleisher, Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Robert McDonald.
International competition successes include 1st prize at the International Piano Competition in Memoriam Ferenc Liszt, 1st prize at the Evangelia Tjiarri International Piano Competition, 1st prize at the International Marlow Computers in Personnel Concerto Competition, 1st prize at the One Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, 2nd prize at the International James Mottram Piano Competition, 2nd prize and the two audience prizes at the Seattle International Piano Competition and at the Fontainebleau Music Festival he was offered the Piano Prize.
Alexander has performed in most of the major concert halls in the UK including Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, the Sage Theatre in Gateshead, Purcell Room and at Clarence House in the presence of the Prince of Wales. Since his move to America he has played at the Kennedy Center in Washington and also at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on several occasions.
Alexander has received master classes from eminent pianists such as Dmitri Alexeev, Pascal Devoyon, Edith Fischer, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Gary Graffman, Leslie Howard, Peter Nagy, Cristina Ortiz, Marios Papadopoulos, Artur Pizarro, Menahem Pressler, Michael Roll, Andras Schiff, Yonty Solomon, Fou Ts’ong, Vladimir Viardo and Elisso Virsaladze.
On 9 April 2011, Masataka Goto was awarded First Prize at the 9th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, Utrecht. The jury compared him to “a young samurai defending the honour of music.” He also received the Van Lanschot Bankiers Audience Award as well as the Prize of the Junior Jury. In 1996, Masataka Goto has received his first piano instruction under Fumiko Eguchi at the Showa Graduate School of Music and the Piano Art Academy, where he is still a student. In 2004, he won the Grand Prix at the 28th Competition of the Japanese Piano Teachers’ National Association and in 2005 was awarded first prize at the Ennio Porrino International Piano Competition in Cagliari, Italy. As First Prize winner in the Liszt Competition, Masataka is to embark upon a world-wide concert tour.
Gábor Farkas (1981) holds a PhD and an MA degree in piano performance and teaching from Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest. His special talent is appreciated internationally: In 2009, he won the “63. International Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar” and the “Audience’s Prize” and an award for best performance of Haydn Sonata, in 2003 he received the first prize of the “Hungarian National Radio’s Piano Competition”, and in 2000 he was the winner of the “Bartók Béla Piano Competition” in Baden bei Wien. In May 2009 he received the “Gundel Art Prize”, in November 2008 he was given the „Prima Junior” prize; and in March 2008 he was awarded a special state prize “The best young artist of the year”.
His uplifting performance has enchanted the audience throughout Europe and the world: along the past years he performed in the concert halls of Hungary, Vienna, Baden bei Wien, Berlin, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Florence, Paris, London, Helsinki, Calgary, Sakata, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Weimar and Bayreuth. He was invited to prestigious international festivals, such as the “Budapest Spring Festival”, the “International Piano Forum”, Berlin, and the “Ferenc Liszt Festival” in the Castle of Gödöllő, Hungary. In January 2011, he was the soloist of the Official Opening Concert of the Liszt Year 2011, Zoltán Kocsis conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra at the Palace of Arts, Budapest. So far, he has worked with such world-wide known conductors as Ádám Fischer, or Tamás Vásáry.
In the past years, he received the scholarships “Pro Europe” and “Ferenc Liszt” in Budapest; and in 2001 he won the scholarship of the “European Cultural Foundation” in Strasbourg.
His debut CD recording entitled „An evening with Liszt” was published by Warner Music in November 2008, which won the prestigious “Grand Prix” as the best Liszt recording of the year 2009 given by the Franz Liszt International Society. His second album is a live recording of the Official Opening Concert of the Liszt Year, 2011 with Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, also to be published by Warner Music in July 2011.
