An American–Hungarian pianist came in third at this year’s Bartók World Competition

Ádám Szokolay, 23, has clinched first place at the 2019 Bartók World Competition, organised by the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary for pianists this year. The second prize went to Ádám Balogh, while Eastman School of Music’s Peter Klimo from the US came in third.

Budapest (Hungary) – This year’s Bartók World Competition and Festival came to a close with a gala evening held on Sunday, 15 September. The prominent international jury brought its decision late at night after the orchestral finals held the previous day. The winners of the competition and special prizes were announced at the awards ceremony during the gala, where five of the contestants who had made it to the solo finals took the stage.

The Hungarian Ádám Szokolay, former student of Bard College, NY and currently enrolled at University of Music Franz Liszt, Weimar (Germany) won the first cash prize of €30,000. The second cash prize of €20,000 went to the Hungarian Ádám Balogh, who finished his studies this year at Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. The US-born Peter Klimo, from Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY) collected the third cash prize of €10,000.

In a letter of greeting to the competitors, jury, audience and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, which organised the event, Lady Valerie Solti, a chief patron of the Bartók World Competition and Festival, shared a quote from her late husband, Sir Georg Solti: “Never give up, keep working, and never, ever abandon your ideals and aspirations.” Lady Valerie has been a generous supporter of the Bartók World Competition and Festival since the very beginning.

“I trust that the third Bartók World Competition and Festival will be another chapter in a long story, and that, carrying on what has now become an annual event, we can announce a competition for composers next year and then call upon the best string quartets the year after,” Dr Andrea Vigh, President of the Liszt Academy, noted in her speech. As the initiator of the competition, she underlined that the annual event stands out among international music competitions.

Japanese pianist Kenji Watanabe, chairman of the prestigious jury, spoke of the outstanding standard of the competition and the ability of all contestants to reveal themselves in their performances. He underscored the infinite nature of an artist’s career and the performing artist’s need for self-improvement. Speaking of his impressions, he said a few contestants had played too fast. “You should not rush it like that because the musicality will be lost, you need to sing, because singing is the most important component of music: it is the soul of music,” he pointed out. He recommended that contestants who choose to play Bartók should listen to recordings of him performing not only his own pieces. He noted that his playing is exciting and that not a single sound of his is rigid.

The three winners also received several special prizes. Ádám Szokolay was awarded opportunities to perform by the Bartók Memorial Home, Bartók Radio, the Gyor Philharmonic Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Müpa Budapest as well as being invited by Muza Rubackyte, member of the jury, to the Vilnius Piano Music Festival. Ádám Balogh won invitations from Bartók Radio to play in concert at the Marble Hall as well as from the Cziffra Festival, Danubia Orchestra Óbuda, Pannon Philharmonic and Academy of Music; in addition, on the initiative of jury member Klara Min, he received an invitation to attend the Classical Bridge Festival by New York Concert Artists & Associates. Peter Klimo was invited to play with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Special prizes were likewise awarded to other competitors in the form of concert appearances: from among the six solo finalists, Alberto Greer Menjon Bohanna (Spain) received an invitation to perform at the Liszt Academy, and Krisztián Kocsis (Hungary) was invited by the Concerto Budapest and Pannon Philharmonic, while the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra extended an invitation to semi-finalist Benedek Horváth (Hungary).

The orchestral finals were held in the Grand Hall of the Academy of Music on 14 September. Ádám Szokolay played Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Ádám Balogh chose Liszt’s Concerto for Piano in A Major, and Peter Klimo played Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, each accompanied by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zsolt Hamar.

The world-renowned members of the jury chaired by Kenji Watanabe included Kálmán Dráfi, Head of Department at the Academy of Music, pianists Tamás Vásáry and Andrei Korobeinikov from Russia, Korean-American Klara Min, Russian-American Alexandre Moutouzkine, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg from Norway and Muza Rubackyte from Lithuania, as well as music historian and Bartók researcher Tibor Tallián.

Click on bartokworldcompetition.hu/en for further information.