Mihály Berecz wins Kissinger Klavierolymp 2023
The winner of the 21st Kissingen Klavierolymp is Mihály Berecz, announced the artistic director of the Kissingen Summer Alexander Steinbeis on behalf of the expert jury after the final concert on 8 October. The 26-year-old Hungarian pianist "unites musicality, stylistic will and performative desire to the highest degree (...) convinced the jury with his technical ability, wit, awareness of time and his structurally conscious interpretations".
Mihály Berecz has been studying at the Eisler in the Master's programme with Prof. Kirill Gerstein since the summer semester of 2023. This is the second time in a row that an Eisler student has won the Bad Kissingen Piano Competition - last year the prize went to the Russian pianist Roman Borisov from Prof. Eldar Nebolsin's class.
Mihály Berecz graduated with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher Elton. He is the winner of the Liszt-Bartók Prize at the 15th Concours Géza Anda 2021 and was awarded the Golden Prize of the 2nd Manhattan International Music Competition and the Harriet Cohen Bach Prize of the Royal Academy of Music. He gave debuts at the Philharmonie and Young Euro Classic in Berlin as well as at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest and at the Liszt Academy, most recently with Mozart's "Jenamy" Concerto conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. Mihály's interest in historical interpretations has led to performances of Hammer piano concertos with renowned orchestras such as the Orfeo Orchestra. Between 2020 and 2022, he performed the complete solo works of Béla Bartók in eight concerts at the Hungarian Radio's Marble Hall as part of a scholarship from the Hungarian Academy of Arts.
The winners of the Klavierolymp will be featured in the programme of the Kissinger Sommer 2024 and will be supported on their career path through cooperation with other organisers and the arrangement of further performances. The final concert of the PianoOlympus was recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk and broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on 27 October at 20:03.