XXIV International Masterclass for Pianists

Sat 22 Sep to Thu 27 Sep 2018, 10.00am – 1.00pm and 3.00pm – 7.00pm daily, Fri 28 Sep 2018 from 10.00am – 1.00pm at the Literaturhaus / Kennedy-Haus, Darmstadt.

Open to young pianists, the course covers a range of topics — imparting the Chopin tradition or a freely chosen programme in preparation for music examinations, concerts and piano competitions. Each participant receives 3–4 one-hour lessons. Visitors welcome — free admission.

Optional: Chopin's Études Op. 10 and Op. 25

The two magnificent études cycles occupy a special place in the piano repertoire. In them, Chopin achieves a brilliant union of technically highly instructive study material with great concert literature of profound musical substance — one that inspired generations of composers after him, from Debussy and Scriabin to Ligeti.

In them, Chopin develops his own highly personal musical language, with unprecedented colour, new textures and figurations, and an inexhaustible wealth of polyphonic, metric and articulatory variety — so that the études may also be regarded as a pianistic key to Chopin's complete oeuvre. The course offers the opportunity to engage in depth with technical demands and interpretative approaches.

Tutors

Tamás Ungár

Pianist Tamás Ungár has won worldwide acclaim for his powerful performances and innovative programmes. He is a frequent guest artist at numerous music centres in the United States and performs regularly around the world. In recent years he has appeared in America, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Romania, England, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, Korea and Japan. Highlights include appearances with the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, as soloist and conductor of Mozart's piano concertos at the University of Leeds, and as Artist-in-Residence with solo recitals and masterclasses at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Alongside his concert engagements, Tamás Ungár has become one of the most renowned and respected teachers in the USA. As founder and Executive Director of the PianoTexas International Academy & Festival and a member of the TCU piano faculty, he attracts students from around the world. His students have won prizes at national and international competitions and have performed in venues including the Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City.

Dr Ungár's most influential teachers were Alexander Sverjensky at the Sydney Conservatorium, Lajos Hernádi at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and György Sebök at Indiana University, where he received his doctorate in music.

Aleksandra Mikulska

Aleksandra Mikulska, President of the Chopin Society in the Federal Republic of Germany in Darmstadt since 2014, is among the most significant representatives of the young generation of exceptional pianists. Her interpretations have earned numerous international accolades, including the special prize for best Polish pianist at the XV International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

Concert invitations have taken her to venues including the Tonhalle Zürich, the Philharmonie Essen, the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, the Münchner Künstlerhaus, the National Philharmonic Warsaw, the Wiener Musikverein, the Nikolaisaal Potsdam and the Brucknerhaus Linz. She is a regular guest at international festivals and performs with orchestras in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Switzerland.

Born in Warsaw in 1981, Aleksandra Mikulska studied with Peter Eicher at the Karlsruhe University of Music, at the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale "Incontri col maestro" in Imola, and in the masterclass of Arie Vardi at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, where she completed her concert exam in 2010.

Sabine Simon

Sabine Simon, born in Berlin in 1971, studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Annerose Schmidt. She deepened her training at Indiana University in Bloomington with György Sebök, Menahem Pressler and Janos Starker, at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Hans Leygraf, and as a scholarship holder of the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt.

She made her debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at just 16 years of age. Numerous national and international recitals and concerts followed, including performances with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Polish Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra Lodz.

She has won prizes at national and international piano competitions, including first prizes at the National Bach Competition Leipzig and the Bechstein Competition "Piano in Concert". Since 2005 she has taught piano and piano methodology at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt.