Balázs Fülei, piano

Balázs Fülei, Hungarian pianist’s personality as a performer is characterized by deep musical thinking and sensitivity. Studied at Bartók Conservatory with Gábor Eckhardt, then at the Liszt Academy, Budapest, under the direction of György Nádor and Balázs Réti. Balázs Fülei also studied with Emanuel Krasovsky at Tel Aviv University, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. A pianist with Franz Liszt, Artisjus and Junior Prima Prize, Steinway Artist.

He has more than thirty piano concertos in his repertoire, with all the concertos by Beethoven, Brahms and Bartók among them. He released five solo albums, in 2013 the works of Bartók and Grieg, in 2015 Brahms, Beethoven, Debussy and András Gábor Virágh compositions connected to the Moon theme. In 2019 he recorded penultimate sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert, and released a Liszt Album with late compositions. He released albums with the Auer Trio, with clarinetist Zsolt Szatmári, and recorded Schubert's Winterreise song cycle with Zoltán Megyesi, tenor.

He has entered the international music scene at an early age: in 2005 he was the winner of the Arcangelo Speranza International Piano Competition in Taranto and has won further prizes in Milan, Cagliari and Moscow. He was selected twice by the International Holland Music Sessions to be the soloist of the New Masters On Tour. Significant venues of his international career: the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, the Palace of Arts, Budapest, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Kioi Hall Tokio, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow, the NCPA Mumbai and the Carnegie Hall in New York where he had his debut solo recital in 2008. He has played together with the leading symphony orchestras in Hungary and abroad. Balázs Fülei has performed in almost every country in Europe, Israel, the United States of America, Australia, Japan, China and Vietnam. Keen and passionate chamber music player, performed at many international festivals like Festival de Bellerive, Miami Piano Festival, Budapest Spring Festival. He has regularly been giving concerts with his permanent formation, the Auer Trio, released their first album in 2019. Balázs Fülei has been a frequent partner of the world famous Kodály Quartet.

He has been teaching at the Liszt Academy since 2012, associate professor and has been the Head of the Department of Chamber Music since 2015. He has held piano and chamber music masterclasses all over the world and he is the founder of the international Echo Summer Academy held in the Károlyi Castle in Fehérvárcsurgó, Hungary every year in July. 

In 2010 he received the Junior Prima prize, in 2011 the Artisjus prize, in 2012 the prize of the Solti Foundation, in 2015 Diamond Career Grant from Charlotte White's Salon de Virtuosi, New York, and then in 2017 he was awarded the Liszt Prize. In 2020, Steinway & Sons awarded him the title ”Steinway Artist”.