OPENING CONCERT
- csigoartfest
- Mar 31
- 3 min read
June 27, Friday, 2025, 7:00 PM-9:00 PM
PIANO EVENING entitled "From Warsaw to New York" with the participation of Junior Prima Award-winning pianist Gergely Kovács.
The program will feature a musical journey from Chopin to Gershwin. A work from Romanticism, Impressionism and classical jazz will be performed at the solo concert of the renowned young virtuoso pianist at the Csigó Mill.
The musical host is music historian János Mácsai.
Salon program: book signing, informal conversation accompanied by wine tasting.
Ticket: 4,500 HUF.
Gergely Kovács was born in Békéscsaba, Hungary, and began studying music at the age of four with the help of his grandmother, a piano teacher. At twelve, he won the Grand Prize at the National Piano Competition in Nyíregyháza, and in the same year, he was admitted to the Special Talents Department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where he studied under Gyöngyi Keveházi and Gábor Eckhardt.
He moved from Békéscsaba to Budapest with his family. In 2010, he won third prize at the Isidor Bajić International Piano Competition in Serbia. In 2013, he won first prize at the Pietro Argento International Piano Competition in Italy, and also received the Gundel Art Prize. A passionate chamber musician, he won third prize in the violin–piano category at both the 2013 and 2016 Leo Weiner National Chamber Music Competitions.
Between 2014 and 2017, he completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Liszt Academy under the guidance of György Nádor and Gábor Eckhardt. In 2015, he was among the top twenty pianists at the International Paloma O’Shea Piano Competition in Santander, Spain, and won the Grand Prize at the World Piano Teachers Association International Piano Competition. In 2016, he performed at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, dedicating his concert to the memory of the late Zoltán Kocsis. In 2017, he received a special prize at the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona and performed there as a prizewinner.
From 2017 to 2019, he completed his Master’s degree at the Liszt Academy, studying with Attila Némethy and Balázs Réti. He has performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Transylvania, Indonesia, and New York. In 2018, he won second prize (first prize not awarded) at the Budapest International Chopin Piano Competition, and was subsequently honored with the Junior Prima Award.
In 2018, he was selected as a Bank of China scholarship recipient, and in 2019 received the prestigious Annie Fischer Scholarship. His Master’s diploma concert took place on April 2, 2019, in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, featuring the György Solti Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Zsolt Hamar. He was then awarded a scholarship to the Lancaster International Piano Festival in Pennsylvania. In September 2019, he gave a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Between 2019 and 2020, he was a student in the Piano Soloist Master's Program at the Liszt Academy, studying with Kálmán Dráfi. He performed at the Liszt Academy’s traditional New Year’s Overture concerts in both 2019 and 2020—the latter featuring the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and broadcast multiple times on M5 TV Channel. In 2020, he was awarded the Talent Prize of the Cziffra Festival.
János Mácsai, music historian, graduated in 1987 from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest with a degree in musicology. In 1988–89, he continued his studies in the Netherlands on a scholarship, focusing on musicology and instrument restoration. In 1990, he was awarded the Kodály Scholarship, and in 1993, he earned a diploma in music production. He later completed his doctoral studies at the Liszt Academy. For 15 years, he worked at the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since 2000, he has been working as a freelance music historian, critic, and instrument restorer.
He has been publishing articles on music, concert and record reviews, and giving lectures on music history since 1984. In 1991, he founded the Hungarian Association of Instrument Makers and launched the journal Hangszervilág ("Instrument World").
In the 1990s, he worked as a producer for audio recordings and music programs for television. Since 1994, he has been a regular contributor to Hungarian Radio, hosting music programs, producing reports and music criticism, and commentating live concert broadcasts. He has participated in over 1,500 radio broadcasts—about 1,000 of them live. He has also worked for Hungarian Television and Duna Television as a presenter, reporter, and music expert.
He has produced musical documentary films, including portraits of pianist Lívia Rév and the Angelica Girls’ Choir, and he continues to create content on music-related topics. Since 2003, he has been a part-time lecturer at the University of Theatre and Film Arts, and since 2009, at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, where he teaches music history.
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