National Radio Orchestra - live broadcast
Friday, 19 November 2010 , 19.00

How long has it been since you last listened to Matei Varga?

Many years have certainly passed since the young pianist’s last concert at the Radio Hall where he will return on November 19th 2010 in a recital dedicated to Romanticism: Piano and Orchestra Concerto No.1 in E minor, oOp.11 by Frédéric Chopin. During this period, Matei Varga is having quite a busy schedule. He will give a recital for two pianos together with the South-African Ben Schoeman (at the Romanian Athenaeum) on November 23rd 2010.

The programme includes pieces by Schubert, Schumann, Lipatti, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Matei Varga will have another recital at the Radio Hall on November 30th 2010, to celebrate Schumann and Chopin. He will also be a member of the jury of the first edition of the National Competition that will take place during the ‘Lipatti Days’ organised by Radio Romania Music in Bucharest.

Settled in New York, Matei Varga is renowned for being one of the most important young pianists born in Romania. He has given concerts in important halls all over the world, among which Carnegie Hall (New York), Auditorium du Louvre and Salle Gaveau (Paris), Royal Dramatic Theatre (Stockholm), Casals Hall (Tokyo) etc.

Among the awards received by Matei Varga, there are second prize at the George Enescu International Contest, first prize at the Lory Wallfisch Piano Competition (Romania), second prize at the Young Concert Artists Competition (New York) and at the International Piano Competition in Porto and third prize at the Maria Canals Competition (Barcelona) as well as the Dorothy Mackenzie Artist Recognition Award at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York) in 2007. As a runner up of the Vendome Prize competition, he was noticed by Elisabeth Leonskaja, a member of the jury who gave him a special award, as well. As a result of having received this award, Matei Varga was invited to be project manager of the 2009 edition of the Vendome Prize Competition, responsibility that he will also have at the 2013 edition.

Matei Varga graduated from the National University of Music in Bucharest in 2004 where he studied with Sandu Sandrin, Ana Pitiş and Ioana Minei. He continued his studies at Mannes College (New York) where he received a Master of Music diploma (2006) and the Artist Diploma (2008) under the guidance of Pavlina Dokovska. At present he is a piano teacher at Lucy Moses Music School in New York.

The concert of the National Radio Orchestra includes the Julius Caesar Overture by Robert Schumann and Orchestra Suite No.1 in C Major, Op. 9 by George Enescu, conducted by Adrian Morar.