Peter Nagy, piano

Péter Nagy, the first prize-winner in the 1979 Hungarian Radio Competition is one of the youngest representatives of what has internationally become known as the brilliant new generation of Hungarian pianists.

Displaying outstanding musical gifts in his early childhood, he was admitted at the age of 8 to the Special School for Young Talents of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Budapest.His teachers were Ferenc Rados and Klára Máthé. At the age of 11 he won the second prize of the International Concours, in Usti nad Labem (Czechoslovakia) in 1971. In 1975 he became a regular student of the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest; in addition he attended the master classes of Amadeus Webersinke, in Weimar in 1975 and 1976, as well as the course of Prof. Malcolm Bilson held in Budapest in 1979. In the same year he won the top prize in the Hungarian Radio Piano Competition.

He graduated with distinction from the class of Prof.Kornél Zempléni at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1981. His international career began in 1977, with his successful performances in Finland, in Yugoslavia, and in Salzburg in 1979. In the previous years he made extensive tours in the German Democratic Republic and in the Soviet Union. His participation in the Menton Festival in 1979 marked his debut in France. In 1980 he was acclaimed at the Bordeaux Festival of Young Soloists and on the Bratislava International Rostrum for Young Interpreters. Mr. Francois Reichenbach, the world famous French film director shot a TV film in Paris featuring Péter Nagy and Zoltán Kocsis as a piano duo and as soloists. They also performed together in the major cities of Germany as soloists with the Chamber Orchestra of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music.

Between 1984 and 1987 he has received lessons from the renowned professor György Sebők in Bloomington, Indiana.

Some of the highlights of Mr. Nagy world-wide concert tours include recitals in Australia at the Sydney Opera House, in the Louvre Auditorium in Paris, in Tokyo, Yokohama, Sapporo and other cities in Japan. He has also appeared as soloist with such ensembles as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has performed at major festivals, including Aix-en-Provence,Athens,Bastad,Blonay, Davos,Divonne, Llandoff, Kilkenny, Edinburgh, Turku, Joensuu, Kuhmo,Moritzburg, Stockholm, Helsinki, Ojai and the Marlboro Music Festival.

Péter Nagy is the regular pianist of the young violinist, Leonidas Kavakos. The duo has received invitations for tours in the USA, Spain, Greece,Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and Hungary. In 1988 Mr. Nagy and Mr.Kavakos formed a trio with Finnish cellist Martti Rousi, making their debut at the Helsinki Festival. In the recent years Mr. Nagy has been collaborating with violist Kim Kashkashian, giving duo recitals in Europe and in the United States.

As part of his exclusive contract with HNH International Ltd. Mr. Nagy made an extensive tour of the Far East.

He has made several recordings for Hungaroton,Delos, Naxos, BIS and ECM labels.

In 2001 he has received the prestigious Liszt Award.