Marcell Szabó was born in Budapest in 1987. He started playing the piano at 8. He began his studiesit the Kálmán Nádasdy School of Arts in Budafok as a pupil of Márta Batke. At this time he acquainted with piano teacher Katalin Csáky who has been his music mentor since then. Not more than one year later he played Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major in the Esterházy Palace at Fertőd. From then on, he won the first prizes of the annual piano competitions arranged for the Budapest Music Schools year by year. In 1999, he enrolled to the Special School for Young Talents of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and was accepted to the class of Gábor Eckhardt. In 2004, he won the second prize of the III. International Piano Competition named after Zlatko Grgoŝević in Zagreb, Croatia (no first prize was awarded). He won first prize in his age category when he participated in the I. International Chopin Piano Competition in Budapest the same year. In 2005, he was awarded the Sári Bíró memorial prize as the best pupil elected from those of the Special School for Young Talents of the Liszt Academy. In 2006, he was allowed to start his studies at the Piano Faculty of the Liszt Academy, where he became the student of András Kemenes and György Nádor. In 2007, he was awarded the first prize in the XIV. Andor Földes Piano Contest arranged within the Academy of Music. He was granted a special prize in Nagoya, Japan in 2008 for his interpretation of Franz Liszt’s piano concerto in E-flat major in the course of the finals of the IV. Nagoya Piano Competition. He then won the third prize at the IV. International Bartók Piano Competition held in Szeged (Hungary) in the spring of 2010 where he also collected a special prize awarded for the best interpretation of the contemporary music. He was then accepted as a guest student in the Brussels Royal Academy in the academic year of 2011/2012 where he studied under the tutorship of Jan Michiels. He graduated in Budapest in 2012 and then in the same year he was granted the third prize among the adult age category at the V. International Chopin Piano Competition in Budapest where he also collected the special prize awarded for him as the best Liszt interpreter. In the same year, he enrolled to the Doctoral School of the Liszt Academy. In 2014 he was awarded at three competitions, altogether, that are the following: first prize of the VI. International Bartók Piano Competition and he won two special prizes of he same event as he was granted one by the orchestra and another one as the best performer of the contemporary music; and then he collected the third prize at the XXXIII. Delia Steinberg International Piano Competition in Madrid, Spain and the first prize at the XVI. Internation Ile de france Piano Competition in Paris, France which success won him several invitations for concerting in France, too. In the year of 2015, a special committee chaired by Zoltán Kocsis elected him to be one of the musicians sponsored by Carreer Office of the Academy of Music. In Transsylvania, he won the second prize of the XX. Carl Filtsch Piano Competition in the same year. At the end of 2015 he was awarded with Junior Prima Prize which is one of the most prestigeous award a young musician can achieve. In 2016,2017,2018 he was given the Annie Fischer Musical Scholarship.

So far, he participated in several masterclasses, including the ones held by such pianist as Dmitri Bashkirov, Zoltán Kocsis, Imre Rohmann, Gergely Bogányi, Sándor Falvai, Balázs Szokolay, Jan Michiels, Gottlieb Wallisch, Maurizio Moretti and already played in concert halls not only in Hungary but also in Vienna, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Dortmund, Paris, Madrid, Nagoya, Hamburg, Brussels and Luxembourg.

“This program is defended with a real committed pianist, Hsin-Ni has beautiful qualities of sound and a head which Naxos shall stay loyal with. Now the days is rare to find a pianist like her. ”

- Classics Today France

”...a pianist of exceptional intensity and accomplishment, as evidenced by her recent New York recital debut; it will thus be a pleasure over time to hear her programs unfold with ever greater joy and ease...one was left with no question that Ms. Liu has marvellous equipment and potential...”.

- New York Concert Review Inc.

“Liu’s interpretation certainly enforced her own virtuosity from the beginning to the end of the work. Her traversal of the styles in each variation was seemingly effortless, transforming each group into an exposition of the composer’s wishes.”

- Idyllwild Town Crier

Hsin-Ni Liu has recorded two albums with Naxos Records, one album with Fidelio Hungary, collaborated with Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and Hungarian Szeged Symphony Orchestra.

Liu’s debut album received “Artist of the Week”, “Top Album Pick” by Naxos Records.

Hsin-Ni Liu has appeared at venues of Taipei Novel Hall, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Shuni Roman Theater in Israel, Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy, Zucker Hall in TelAviv, Weil Hall Carnegie Hall in New York, Mupa Palace of Arts in Budapest, Hungarian Opera House in Budapest, Godollo Royal Palace, Sziget Festival in Budapest, Miskolc Opera Festival, Művészetek Völgye in Kapolcs, Hungary Filharmonia; given master classes and lectures in USA East & West coast well-renowned Music Conservatory/University, Israel, Spain, Taiwan, and Hungary.

Hsin-Ni Liu is artist director of Castle Concert Series in Hungary.

Born in Taipei Taiwan, 1980. In 2011, Hsin-Ni Liu was awarded the Outstanding Young Artist Award from the Federation Overseas Chinese

Association. Her diplomas include Cleveland Institute of Music (BM), The Juilliard School (GD), Mannes College of Music The New School (MM); Liszt Academy (GD); important mentors include En Wang, Chen Mao Shuen, Victoria Mushkatkol, Paul Schenly, Jerome Lowenthal, Oxana Yanblonskaya, Yuri Kim, Finta János.

Petra Kiss was born into a family of musicians in Budapest in 1990. She started to play the piano at the age 8. In 2002 she participated in the National György Ferenczy Piano Competition and won the first prize and a special prize. Two months later she played J. Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major with orchestra. In 2004 she won the second prize at the Hungarian National Piano Competition and a special prize called „the best interpretation of Chopin’s pieces”. In 2009 she played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the wind orchestra of Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music. The next summer she won two 1st prizes (category of Weiner’s works and category of hungarian national composer’s pieces) in the International Music Camp and Competition in Balassagyarmat. She won the Scholarship of the Hungarian Republic twice for her excellent studies. She played many solo recitals all over Europe (Prague, Milano, Leipzig, etc.). She debutated in 2013 in the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China) with a concert tour (included two solo recitals and a piano concerto with the orchestra of the National Chinese Ballet). She finished her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Liszt Academy of Music with the highest honours. She has finished the concert pianist master with distinction at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in the class of the famous piano prof. Jacques Rouvier. Currently, she completes her PhD studies at the same institution. She is teaching piano at the Landesmusikschulwerk Oberösterreich in Upper Austria and in the college called Hochschule für Katholische Kirchenmusik und Musikpädagogik in Regensburg,Germany. She gives regularly masterclasses and solo recitals all around the world.

Dr. David Ball is a Hungarian concert pianist based in Budapest, Hungary, and senior lecturer (associate professor) at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest.

He has performed in more than 70 cities and 30 countries in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Musikverein in Vienna, and in recent years, he has been invited as guest soloist of major Hungarian orchestras, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer and, on several occasions, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra led by the late Zoltán Kocsis, most notably in September 2015 for a performance of Schönberg’s Piano Concerto at the Season Opening Concert. Zoltán Kocsis described him as a „fantastic talent [...], with stupendous brain and incredible pianistical capacity.”

Since 2009, he has been member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, led by Iván Fischer.

After graduating from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in 2006 as a pianist and a teacher [and later in 2011, acquiring a doctoral degree in Liberal Arts], he started teaching at the Bartók Béla Music School in Vác, then the Debrecen University and University of Nyíregyhaza. Since 2013 he has been one of the piano professors of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. As an internationally recognised educator he is often invited to give lectures and masterclasses in Hungary, Poland, Georgia, China, Vietnam and Brazil.

László Borbély Junior Prima and Artisjus Prize awarded concert pianist and senior lecturer of the prestigious Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest.

He has won several awards at international competitions (among others 2 nd Prize at the Liszt-Bartók International Piano Competition in Budapest and 2 nd Prize at the Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition). He is a regular participant of solo and chamber concerts all over the World. He has performed concerts in most of countries of Europe, the United States and Asia as well.

He has released eight solo albums (Liszt: Songs of sorrow and consolations, Bach& Goldberg-variations and The Art of Fugue, Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue of Birds, etc.) and two morerecordings with Szabolcs Szilágyi flutist under the label of Hunnia Records. Most currently he isworking on the integral recording of the three Bartók piano concerti, the 1 st concerto were released this summer.

He took master classes in Geneva (Switzerland), Würzburg (Germany), Tbilisi (Georgia), Ankara(Turkey) and Seoul (South-Korea)

Bence ASZTALOS, DLA studied violin and singing at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, continuing his education in Vienna in K.S. Robert Holl’s Lied-class. He has been playing in the Budapest Festival Orchestra since 1994, working with conductors, such as Iván Fischer, Sir George Solti. His singing career allowed him to develop close relations with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Hungarian State Opera, where he sang Don Fernando/Fidelio, Ariodates/Xerxes, Bartolo/Figaro etc. In 2010 he was appointed as associate professor at the University of Szeged “Juhász Gyula” Faculty of Education Department of Music Education, and from 2017 at the “Eötvös Loránd” University (ELTE) Budapest Faculty of Primary and Pre-School Education Music Department. Since 2019 he works as an associate professor at the Eszterházy Károly University Eger, and in 2021 he was appointed to head of the Music Institute at the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University Eger.

CHAMBER MUSIC DEPARTMENT, SCHOOL FOR EXCEPTIONAL YOUNG TALENTS Chamber Music, String Quartet Academic degree, university position: DLA, senior lecturer

Major jury members:

2010: March, Firenze, „ACERN-Premio Vittorio Gui” International Chamber Music Competition

2012: Februar, Graz, „Schubert und die Moderne Musik” International String Quartet Competition

Major concerts (recitals, chamber music performances):

Budapest, Budapest Festival Orchestra „Coffee concerts” with Zoltán Kocsis,1992

Rome, Villa Medici, 1993

Paris, Musée d’Orsay, 1994

Berlin, Philharmonie, 1995

Orlando Festival,1996

Milano, „György Kurtág Festival”, 1998

Edinborough, International Festival,1998

Bonn, „Beethoven Marathon”, 1998

Feldkirch, „Schubertiade”, 1999

London, Royal Festival Hall,1999

New York, „Mostly Haydn Festival” Lincoln Center, 1999

Mexico, „Cervantino Festival”, 2000

London, „BBC Proms”, Barbican Centre, 2000-2001

Amsterdam, Concertgebow, 2001

Firenze, Teatro Della Pergola, 2002

Genova, Teatro Carlo Felice, 2002

Karlsruhe, Stephanssal, 2002

Rome, Aula Magna, 2005

Pannonhalma, „Arcus Temporum” 2006

Brussel, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 2006

New York, Carnegie Hall, 2008

Norfolk, Yale Summer School of Music, 2008

Bologna, Palazzo Carrati, 2009

Budapest, Spring Festival, Liszt Academy Grand Hall, 2009

Cologne, „Musik Triennale”, 2010

Berlin, Philharmonie, „Musikfest Berlin 10”, 2010

Salzburg, Mozarteum, 2011

Festival d’Aix-en-Provance, 2011

Korea, Tongyeong Festival, 2012

Tokyo, Kioi Hall, 2012

London, Wigmore Hall, 2012

Washington, Library of Congress, 2013

Chicago, Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, 2013

Montreal, Pollack Hall, McGill University, 2013

Vienna, Konzerthaus, 2014

Buenos Aires, Teatro Colon, 2014

Nantes, “La folle Journee”, 2015

Budapest, Liszt Academy Grand Hall „Legendary concerts”, 2015

Shanghai, Symphony Hall, 2016

Manchester, RNCM Concert Hall, 2017

Veszprém, “Auer Festival”, 2017

Fertőd, Esterházy Castle, 2017

Padova, Sala dei Giganti, 2017

Budapest, Liszt Academy Grand Hall, 2018

Pannonhalma, „Arcus Temporum”, 2018

Budapest Liszt Academy Solti Hall, 2018

Salzburg, Schloss Mirabell, 2019

Budapest, Festetics Palace, 2019

Kinga Várallyay was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1996. She started her piano studies at the age of seven under the guidance of Róbert Várallyay. Between 2011 and 2015 she attended the Béla Bartók Music Conservatory where her teachers were Erzsébet Belák and Zoltán Fejérvári. In 2015 she entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and became the pupil of András Kemenes. She recieved her master diplom with the highest honors in 2020. During her Master studies she also attended the classes of Claudio Martinez Mehner, Anton Kernjak and Filippo Gamba in the Musik Academy of Basel. She spent the last year of her studies as an Erasmus student in the Mozarteum, Salzburg where her professors were Imre Rohmann and Tünde Kurucz.

She participated many times successfully on national and international competitions as well as music festivals. She recieved first prize at the Hungarian National Piano Competition held in Békéscsaba in 2015 and special awards at the International Chopin Competition in Szafarnia, Poland. In 2019 she received third prize on the Béla Bartók International Piano Competition organized in Graz. She won the International Virtuoso & Belcanto Competition in 2021 in Lucca and had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Orchestra della Toscana. She was a special prize winner at the Zoltán Kocsis Award in 2022. The same year she performed the Schumann a-minor concerto with the Miskolc Symphonic Orchestra and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra. She played solo and chamber music concerts apart from Hungary in Austria, in the Czech Republic, in Poland, in Italy and in Switzerland. She also had the opportunity to play on the courses of Tamás Vásáry, Zoltán Kocsis, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Malcolm Bilson, David Fray, Boris Berman, Ferenc Rados, Markus Schirmer and Lilya Zilbernstein.

Kinga is currently a doctoral student of the Franz Liszt Music Academy and a piano teacher of the King St Stephen Music High School.

Not yet forty-one, acclaimed pianist Marouan Benabdallah is indisputably the leading representative of his native Morocco on the international concert stage. With a musical heritage deeply rooted in the Hungarian tradition, Marouan Benabdallah received his formal training at the Bela Bartok Conservatory and the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

He first attracted international attention in 2003, following his triumphs at the Hungarian Radio Piano Competition and the Andorra Grand Prize. More recently, he was a prizewinner at the Hilton Head Piano Competition (US) and the Arthur Rubinstein Master Competition in Tel-Aviv where the local media proclaimed his playing “miraculous” (Maariv).

Marouan Benabdallah has been praised for his “stunning natural virtuosity” (Nice-Matin), “delicate stylishness” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), "compelling sense of momentum" (Washington Post) and "resourceful pianism, lyrical instincts and thoughtfulness" (New York Times). He has been invited as guest soloist by numerous orchestras in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, and has collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Zoltan Kocsis, Iván Fischer, Renato Palumbo, Tan Lihua and others.

He has performed on stages such as the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Music Academy and the Palace of Arts in Budapest, the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Oriental Art Centre in Shanghai, the Grand Theatres of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Fuzhou, the Teatro Communale di Bologna, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Maison Symphonique in Montreal, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Bombay, the Cairo Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall in London.

In 2014, he initiated the Arabæsque Music Project researching and presenting classical composers from the Arab world on the international concert stage. Marouan Benabdallah makes his home between Budapest, Rabat, Paris and Beijing. He is a doctoral student and serves on the piano faculty at the Liszt Academy of Budapest.

Dr. Yi-Yang Chen shot onto the international stage with back-to-back victories in the 2018 Sussex International Piano Competition, 2017 Washington International Competition, and the Warning International Piano Competition. The Worthing Herald music critic Richard Amey praised his recent performance “flair for the unusual and his technical and artistic capacity to deliver,” as well as his “musical and emotional intelligence, dexterity and virtuosity,” listening to Chen as soloist in Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No.5 “Egyptian” with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra. His vibrant playing at the Pacific International Piano Competition (Canada) was recognized by the judges, who selected him for the first prize (“…Yi-Yang showed an impressive breadth of emotional investment and natural affinity for the music he played. The informed individuality and command of his performance was immediately compelling to the judges. We feel this young man has a fine future as an artist. He seems to ‘own’ the piano as he plays, and this makes his performance extremely powerful” – Dr. Robin McCabe).

Yi-Yang Chen is an assistant professor of piano at the University of Kansas and the Artist Director of the Orbifold Music Festival in California. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chen has been playing the piano since the age of 8. Yi-Yang completed his Doctor of Musical Arts And Bachelor’s of Music at the Eastman School of Music with Douglas Humpherys, and his Master’s degree at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald and Jerome Lowenthal. He also has solo/chamber masterclasses with Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Daniel Pollack, Joseph Kalichstein, Glenn Dicterow, Thomas Sauer, and with members from the Cleveland, Shanghai, Borromeo, Brentano, Ying, and Guarneri String Quartets.

Yi-Yang has captivated audiences worldwide with his flamboyant playing. He has performed on five continents in acclaimed venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, Melbourne Recital Centre, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Banff Music Centre in Canada, ZK Matthews Great Hall in South Africa, and the Assembly Hall in Worthing, UK, with such orchestras as the Worthing Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Avanti Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra, National Chinese Orchestra, and the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared at the Perlman Music Festival, Taos School of Music Summer Chamber Music Festival, Banff Music Centre, Music Academy of the West, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, and Brevard Music Center.

A wealth of experience enables Chen to become an outstanding teacher and performer. As the winner of the 2012 MTNA National Young Artist Piano Competition, Chen was given a Steinway piano and two concerts in Miami sponsored by the Chopin Foundation (USA) as his prize. In a review of his 2017 solo recital at Carnegie Weill Hall, New York Concert Review wrote, “He negotiated this difficult work with what appeared to be the greatest of ease. The passagework was sparkling, and the energy never flagging. Mr. Chen held the line and momentum throughout, challenges which many players struggle with in this work […]. It was a powerhouse performance. His bold, take-no- holds approach was all that one hopes for in this work. It is a high-risk proposition that demands a large technique, and Mr. Chen delivered. I’ve heard many performances of this sonata, and Mr. Chen’s ranks among the best. “ Chen also received top prizes at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, American Prize (Professional Division), UNISA International Piano Competition (South Africa), Kerikeri International Piano Competition (New Zealand), Seattle International Piano competition, Thailand International Piano Competition, San Jose International Piano Competition, Roberto Melini International Piano Competition (Italy), Five Towns Piano Competition, Schubert Club Competition, Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, and Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford.

Yi-Yang Chen is a member of the Music Teachers National Association, College Music Society, and Mu Phi Epsilon. He enjoys swimming, biking, traveling, and composing. Yi-Yang is currently working on a recording project with Champs Hill label (UK); the release is scheduled for 2025. Before joining KU (University of Kansas), Yi-Yang has served on the faculty at East Tennessee State University.