Peter Klimo

Hungarian-American pianist Peter Klimo has been fortunate to take his performing talents around the world and is always looking to share his passion for music and the piano. Following his 2nd prize victory at the 2014 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht, Peter embarked on several concert tours, notably throughout Holland, the US, and South Korea. Having participated in several other international competitions as well, Peter won 3rd prize at the 2019 Bartók World Piano Competition, 3rd prize at the 2019 Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, as well as special prizes at the 2017 Maj Lind and 2014 Wideman International Piano Competitions.

Performance highlights in recent years include concerto performances in Budapest, Hungary with conductors Nimrod Pfeffer and Zsolt Hamar and the Hungarian National Philharmonic as well as with Gergely Ménesi and the Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra; Phoenix, Arizona, with Matthew Kasper and the Phoenix Symphony; Seoul, South Korea with Hee-Chuhn Choi and the KBS Symphony Orchestra; Los Angeles, California with John Roscigno and the 52nd American Liszt Society Festival Orchestra; and Columbus, Georgia with George del Gobbo and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Also an avid chamber musician, Peter has toured with violinist Tessa Lark in the US and Holland, and with the Belenus Quartet in Austria and Holland. He performed Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Sprague Hall at the Yale School of Music with all members playing from memory, throughout Holland in 2016 with winners of the International Tromp Percussion Competition, as well as at the Dakota Sky International Piano Festival.

A Los Angeles native, he began his piano studies at the age of nine with Vicharini and Rosanna Marzaroli, and continued with Dr. Tyler Tom while attending the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Peter earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music studying with Dr. Nelita True, his Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Music studying with Peter Frankl, an Artist Diploma from Texas Christian University with Dr. Tamás Ungár, and his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music with Alan Chow.

Passionate about education and sustaining the art form, Peter has given masterclasses at Cal State University Northridge, Hardin Simmons University, at both Los Angeles and Orange County High Schools for the Arts, for the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic Society and the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania, and served as a faculty member for the 2013 inaugural year of the DBS Summer Music Festival in Hong Kong. He has been called to adjudicate competitions both local and international, has maintained a private studio in Los Angeles, and is Assistant Professor of Piano at California State University Fresno.