Guest Artist Recital & Masterclass: János Balázs, piano

Guest Artist Recital & Masterclass: János Balázs, piano

Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 5:00 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space

“If you have heard János Balázs perform, you must have experienced a compelling and completely unique concert. He renders a 21st-century interpretation of classical music with spell-binding and superior technic and has a singular knack for capturing the audience. By doing so, he blurs the distance between the performer and his listener. His thematically unparallelled concerts and programme repertoire reach out to crowds – also the younger generations – which he undertakes solely for the popularisation of classical music.”

He is keen to demonstrate his improvisation skills in areas beyond the classical stage, such as jazz, world music, or folk music, always imbued with classical music’s values and the 20th-century tradition of improvisation.

Music critics highlight the delicacy and diverse colours of his piano playing, his unlimited dynamic scale, and his fascinating virtuosity. Attending János Balázs’ concerts is a genuine time travel, as he evokes the intimate ambience of composers and pianists of the so-called 19th-century golden age, like Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin.

He is a returning artist of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Liszt Academy, and MüPa in Budapest. He has performed at the Cité de la Musique, Palau de Musica, Barbican Centre, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Royal Conservatory. He has collaborated with conductors and orchestras including Charles Dutoit, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Peter Eötvös, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Iván Fischer, the Royal Concertgebouworkest, Mikko Franck, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Balázs received the ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) Rising Star “Artist of the Season” Award. Chamber music also plays a central role in his work, and he has performed alongside musicians including Mischa Maisky, Vadim Repin, and Jose Cura.

A graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, Balázs considers it crucial to pass on Liszt’s tradition to future musicians. He has given masterclasses at McGill University, the Shenyang Conservatory of Music, the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and the Accademia Internazionale per l’alta formazione in Rome. He was also appointed associate professor of the Liszt Academy.

In 2016, Balázs founded the György Cziffra Festival, dedicated to preserving the intellectual and musical legacy of his role model, György Cziffra. The festival has become one of Hungary’s leading classical music festivals.

The Hungarian Government declared 2021, the 100th birthday of pianist György Cziffra, an official memorial year, with Balázs as artistic director. In collaboration with UNESCO, more than 150 events took place during the 2021/2022 memorial year in concert halls across 45 cities in 17 Asian and European countries, featuring more than a hundred performers, including Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Arcadi Volodos, and Vadim Repin.

Balázs has received numerous professional and state accolades. He is the youngest recipient to date of the Kossuth Prize. His international awards include the Young Steinway Artist title and an accolade from the State of Poland for performing Frédéric Chopin’s complete works. Since 2023, he has been a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. In 2022, his album ImprovisArt won first prize and the audience prize at the Music International Grand Prix in New York, and he served as a jury member of the Long-Thibaud Competition.

Free and open to the public.

For more information, call 845-758-7196 or email [email protected].