Ádám Szokolay wins this year’s Bartók World Competition
Ádám Szokolay, 23, has clinched first place at the 2019 Bartók World Competition, organised by the Academy of Music for pianists this year. At the gala evening held on 15 September, second place went to Ádám Balogh, while Peter Klimo came in third.
Photo: Liszt Academy/ Gábor Valuska
Ádám Szokolay won the first cash prize of €30,000, the second cash prize of €20,000 went to Ádám Balogh, and Peter Klimo collected the third cash prize of €10,000.
Ádám Szokolay. Photo: Liszt Academy/Gábor Valuska
In a letter of greeting to the competitors, jury, audience and the Academy of Music, 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.
Photo: Liszt Academy/István Fazekas
Japanese pianist Kenji Watanabe, chairman of the prestigious jury, addressed the audience in Hungarian once again. He spoke of the outstanding standard of the competition and the ability of all of the 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.
Peter Klimo. Photo: Liszt Academy/István Fazekas
The three winners also received several special prizes. Ádám Szokolay was awarded opportunities to perform by the Bartók Memorial Home, Bartók Radio, the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Müpa Budapest as well as being invited by Mūza Rubackytė, 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. Papageno Portal also offered its media package to competitors who had placed first and second.
Photo: Liszt Academy/István Fazekas
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, conducted by Zsolt Hamar. The audience received the performances of the three finalists with thunderous enthusiasm, prompting them to return to the stage several times.
Photo: Liszt Academy/István Fazekas
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 Mūza Rubackytė from Lithuania, as well as music historian and Bartók researcher Tibor Tallián.
Photo: Liszt Academy/Dénes Erdős