I only ever felt truly alive and free when passing from darkness to light or on taking flight from a dingy prison cell like a firebird.
GYÖRGY CZIFFRA
WELCOME
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Everybody needs heroes, children and adults alike – after all, we all want to do good, to help or to create something long-lasting for our successors to build upon. The hero possesses something of the treasure we all seek. The fact that he shares his values with his fellow human beings instead of saving it all for himself bespeaks his greatness. My hero is György Cziffra. He shines above my life and career like a guiding star. His spiritual legacy, his astounding musical talent, his integrity and his selfless desire to help young musicians made him a legend in his lifetime.
The György Cziffra Festival aims to continue all that Cziffra created and dreamed of: a series of concerts, master classes, musical competition and an opportunity for young performers to make themselves known to the audience.
JÁNOS BALÁZS Kossuth Prize-winning Hungarian pianist, Young Steinway Artist artistic director of the György Cziffra Festival
/photo: Szilvia Csibi
GYÖRGY CZIFFRA
WORLD-RENOWNED HUNGARIAN-BORN PIANIST AND VIRTUOSO BUDAPEST, 5 NOVEMBER 1921 –LONGPONT-SUR-ORGE, 15 JANUARY 1994
György Cziffra was born into a family of Gypsy musicians. His father, György Cziffra Snr., played the cimbalom. He started studying at the Liszt Academy at the age of eight, where his teachers included Ernő Dohnanyi, Leo Weiner, György Ferenczy and Imre Keeri-Szanto. The young pianist attained a string of successes.
In 1943 he was called up and ordered to the front and in 1950 he was imprisoned for attempting to defect. In the wake of the 1956 Uprising he settled in Paris where he became the master of Romantic piano literature (Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninov).
Cziffra soon became one of the most sought-after pianists of his day; both orchestras and concert halls competed for his performances, like the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Hollywood Bowl or the Tonhalle. In 1969, he founded his own international music competition in Versailles. He had the ruined royal chapel in Senlis renovated and transformed into a concert hall, which he then named after Franz Liszt. He also established his foundation for the support of young and talented artists.
Cziffra’s legacy is far more than his recordings, charitable activities or the prowess he passed on to his students. In the footsteps of Liszt and Dohnányi, he represents a performance tradition, free from the “sterility” of CD recordings and is full of the vivid virtuosity of improvisational ease and the natural ability to synthesise various musical styles, which made the play of the great 19th-century performers so lively and unique.
György Cziffra’s wonderful and unique career, his knowledge, personality and tireless work for young people remain an example to this day.
Prizes
1956 Liszt Prize
1986 Honorary citizen of Kőszeg
1993 Officer Grade of the Legion d’honneur
1993 Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
GYÖRGY CZIFFRA FESTIVAL
The music festival, named after one of the most outstanding Hungarian pianists in the world, György Cziffra, was founded in Budapest in 2016 by the Kossuth Prize-winning pianist János Balázs.
The spirit and musical heritage of the eponymous genius is a priority cultural asset in Hungary. The Cziffra Festival collaborates with the most prestigious festivals, symphonic orchestras and musicians in Europe, as well as renowned Hungarian artists who profess the ideology conceived by Ferenc Liszt. In addition to the classical music focus, the programme offering a unique theme also creates new directions in cooperation with performers of jazz and pop music as well as of bar and café gypsy music, where an improvisational vision is coupled with exceptional artistic standards.
From the very beginning, the festival has devoted particular attention to empowering young musical talents by granting awards, facilitating concert opportunities, master classes and a mentoring programme. The festival’s decade-long efforts have significantly established György Cziffra’s name and legacy in Hungary and internationally, allowing his musical ideology to endure. It has also inspired numerous exhibitions, books, documentaries, musical works, studies, sculptures, memorial plaques, commemorative medals, and gastronomic products.
The most famous concert halls including Budapest, London, New York, Vienna, Paris, Senlis, Rome, Geneva and Oslo have been the scenes of great success in recent years, where such artists and ensembles as Martha Argerich, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Fazil Say, Arcadi Volodos, Mischa Maisky, José Cura, Vadim Repin and the most remarkable Hungarian artists have taken to the stage.
In 2021, the 100th anniversary of György Cziffra’s birth was officially celebrated by the Government of Hungary as a Memorial Year at the initiative of the Cziffra Festival. It was also inlcuded in the UNESCO’s List of Recommended Anniversaries. The over 150 Hungarian and international concerts during the Memorial Year highlighted the Romantic Period’s interpretation, emotional expressiveness, and improvisational style, while showcasing Hungary’s cultural diversity and its distinguished representatives.
In 2024-2025, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Cziffra Festival, during which more than 40 concerts and events are held in five countries featuring world-renowned orchestras and artists.
THE ART OF THE MOMENT
During the Festivals, dozens of artists have taken to the stage to pay tribute to György Cziffra – musicians and non-musicians alike, who we can rightly be called the legends of our time: Olga Kern, Vadim Repin, Arcadi Volodos, José Cura, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Denis Matsuev, Mikko Franck, Fazil Say, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and other great stars of the international music and art scene.
Cziffra Psodia, Peter Eötvös’ only piano concerto, honors György Cziffra’s legacy and is dedicated to János Balázs. Premiering in Budapest in 2021, it has since been performed in Paris, Geneva, and London.
DENIS MATSUEV (2021) - BUDAPEST, MÜPA
MASSIMO MERCELLI (2022) - BUDAPEST, OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC
OLGA KERN (2024)BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
What binds them to Cziffra and one another? Mainly the performance practice that they all inherited and share, which deeply respects the composer’s intentions, yet will not “fossilise” into musical sculptures. While they are well aware that there is no such thing as “perfect” interpretation, they allow space for the performer’s personality and the magic of the moment.
GÁBOR TAKÁCS-NAGY, CZIFFRA’56 (2021) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
VADIM REPIN, ALEXANDER KNIAZEV, JÁNOS BALÁZS, THE GOLDEN AGE OF ROMANTICISM (2022) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
TAMÁS VÁSÁRY, HOMMAGE À CZIFFRA (2016)BUDAPEST, MOMKULT
ERIKA MIKLÓSA, JÁNOS BALÁZS, ZONGOPERA (2024)IMOLA (ITALY)
MISCHA MAISKY, JÁNOS BALÁZS (2017) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD (2018) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
JOSÉ CURA (2019)BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
ARCADI VOLODOS (2018) - BUDAPEST, MÜPA
ISTVÁN VÁRDAI (2019) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
MARTHA ARGERICH, MISCHA MAISKY (2022) - BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
IMPROVISATION
Challenging boundaries has always belonged György Cziffra’s ethos. The art of improvisation is precisely about this inner freedom; when the emotions of the performer take shape as notes, they reach from the heart to the fingers, from the fingers to the keys and then the hammers that strike the strings. In improvisation, the player becomes unique, inimitable, special in themselves, as they become identical with what they are playing. Liszt, Chopin, Cziffra and the Romantic pianists knew this, and our performers also know this, and enjoy this freedom on stage.
TONY LAKATOS, THE IMPROVISATION (2021)LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
BÉLA SZAKCSI LAKATOS, THE IMPROVISATION (2021)VESZPRÉMFEST
FERENC SNÉTBERGER, THE IMPROVISATION (2022)BUDAPEST, LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC
MEETING OF GENRES
A particular aim of the Festival is to span a bridge between genres and art forms. Besides classical music concerts, also jazz, folk music as well as cross art-forms and various academic disciplines are featured in the programme. It was the great pianist’s vision that “the day will come when the representatives of various art forms (…) will walk hand in hand…”
KÁLMÁN BALOGH, MIKLÓS LUKÁCS, CATHARSIS (2019)BUDAPEST, MOMKULT
BEHIND THE SCENES - THE PIANIST (2024) - BUDAPEST, MOMKULT
YOUNG TALENTED ARTISTS
Cziffra really felt the need for talent fostering, and this might have been the motivating force behind his foundation and scholarship. Walking in Cziffra’s footsteps, during the Festivals, young talents are placed in the limelight by receiving the opportunity to take to the stage in Hungary and abroad.
Over the past 10 years, more than 300 young musicians participated in 35 masterclasses through the festival’s talent program. Nearly 50 received the Festival’s awards. Additionally, competitions, exhibitions, and free children’s concerts further supported the festival’s cultural mission.
VIKTÓRIA KÁDÁR, HOMMAGE À CZIFFRA (2022) - BRUSSELS, LISZT INSTITUTE
JÁNOS BALÁZS , JÚLIA PUSKER AND YOUNG TALENDED MUSICIANS (2021) - LONDON, COVENT GARDEN
23 countries more than 50 cities more than
20 international partners
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS AND COOPERATIONS
György Cziffra toured the world’s cities, and now nearly all culturally important cities of the world are celebrating with us. Primarily, Cziffra’s second home, France (Paris and Senlis), but concerts have been held also in New York, London, Vienna, Prague, Stuttgart and Oradea. A series of Hungarian and international partner organisations are behind the events of the Festival, and numerous cultural institutions have taken their share in the noble mission representing Cziffra’s legacy.
HUNGARY ∙ FRANCE ∙ GERMANY ∙ EGYPT ∙ SWITZERLAND ∙ UNITED STATES ∙ ROMANIA ∙ KOSOVO ∙ AUSTRIA ∙ CZECH REPUBLIC ∙ GREAT
∙ MARTFŰ ∙ SZEKSZARD ∙ KISKUNHALAS ∙ ZALAEGERSZEG ∙ MALÁGA ∙ ISTANBUL ∙ OSLO ∙ RUSE ∙ LEVOCA UNESCO FONDATION CZIFFRA
FRANZ LISZT SOCIETY
ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE RADIO FRANCE
CHOPIN FESTIVAL PRISTINA
CZIFFRA STIFTUNG
PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONALES ALBERT SARFATI
ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI SANTA CECILIA
LISZT FESTIVAL ALBANO
EMILIA ROMAGNA FESTIVAL
SERATE MUSICALI
ASSOCIAZIONE LINGOTTO MUSICA
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
JÁNOS BALÁZS
CONCERT PIANIST
János Balázs has been a part of Hungarian concert life since the age of 16 when he won the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition. Before graduating from the Liszt Academy, he triumphed in five other major competitions, including the Cziffra Piano Competition in Senlis. He received numerous accolades, including the Prima Prize, the Gramofon Prize and the Bartók Radio Music Prize. Among his international awards are the “ECHO Rising Star” Artist of the Season” Award, the Young Steinway Artist title and Poland’s accolade for his performance of Frederic Chopin’s complete works.
In recent years, he has performed in many major concert halls around the world, such as the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Barbican Centre in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Cadogan Hall in London, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Town Hall and Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Megaron in Athens, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, the Konserthuset in Stockholm, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the Bozar in Brussels. In Hungary, he is a regular and popular guest of the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy and the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Müpa, and countless sold-out concerts all over the country are linked to his name.
He has worked with such renowned artists and conductors as Iván Fischer, Peter Eötvös, Mikko Franck, Charles Dutoit, Pinchas Steinberg, Mischa Maisky, Tamás Vásáry, José Cura, Vadim Repin, Stéphane Denève, Jukka Iisakkila, Roger Bausier, David Mathues, Gábor Takács-Nagy or András Keller. He is an associate professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, mentor of the National Talent Centre and founder and artistic director of the György Cziffra Festival. He is the artistic director of the 2021 International György Cziffra Memorial Year, a series of event that has positioned the legendary pianist’ achievements in the international spotlight.
His repertoire includes more than 40 piano concertos, which he has performed with orchestras such as the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonics, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Stavanger Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nagoya Symphonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
In connection with Rachmaninoff’s 150th birth year, Balázs twice performed all of the composer’s piano concertos with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concerto Budapest, which garnered the celebration of an euphoric audience and professional success.
Peter Eötvös dedicated his only piano concerto “Cziffra Psodia” to János Balázs, which premiered on an international tour at the world’s most renowned festivals and concert halls under the composer’s baton. In addition, Balázs is dedicated to the production of works by Hungarian contemporary composers. The performance and recording of all of László Dubrovay’s piano works stand out from these.
Reviewers highlight the subtlety of his playing style, the enchanting diversity of his piano’s timbre, the boundlessness of his dynamic scale, and his impressive improvisational and technical ability. More than ten thousand people have attended his free-of-charge classical music educational concerts for children, and since 2016, he has given several unique open-air piano evenings outside the Basilica in Budapest, proving that classical music can provide a lasting experience for thousands. He has been a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2021, and since 2023, he has been the youngest academician elected as a full member of the institution.
He is a permanent member of the jury of the International Liszt Piano Competition, the Long-Thibaud Piano Competition, the Senlis Cziffra Piano Competition and the Virtuosos talent show, and he has more than 15 solo, orchestral, and chamber albums to his credit.
/photo: Szilvia Csibi/
MAGICAL PERSONALITY
Excerpt from the interview with TAMÁS VÁSÁRY Cziffra Experiences III (Fidelio, 6 February 2016) GÁBOR MESTERHÁZI
– How did you come into contact with György Cziffra?
– During the 1950s, when my parents were resettled, I developed a close friendship with Illes Ravasz, who worked at the Muzsika Hangverseny Company (predecessor of the Filharmonia). He tried to defect but was caught and spent two years in Sopronkőhid prison along with György Cziffra. Later we went to concerts together and heard the first solo recital by Emil Gilels in Hungary. I was overwhelmed by his technique. Ravasz had this to say: I know someone whose technique is even better than Gilels – his name is Gyuri Cziffra, and if you want to hear him let’s go to the Kedves. Cziffra played there, earning his keep in nightclubs. While seated in the dining room I heard that there were two fantastic pianists playing arrangements for four hands and I asked: who’s the other one? It turned out there wasn’t anyone else…
Cziffra produced an incredible orgy of sound from the piano. He greeted Illes warmly and from then on we regularly went there to hear him play – I’ve never heard the like since. How he improvised – he would ask somebody to give him a theme, opera aria, hit tune and he would improvise on it, to the required length. He played so fast that I couldn’t figure out what he was doing. But it was not only fast but superb music. Incredible tone, there was electricity in the play, sparking with chord changes and ideas...
– Is there a side to Cziffra that we don’t know?
– I heard slow pieces, classics from him. I always liked those. Improvisations, arrangements: simply fantastic. His Chopin and Liszt were amazing, nobody ever played Schubert’s Moments Musicauxin F minor with such deep sorrow, with such conviction, and I have heard his beautiful Beethoven ‘Pathetique’ sonata. I think he should have recorded more classical works, but his record company considered that they could get the most out of him in the shortest time by concentrating on the virtuoso repertoire.
He was among the first in Hungary to learn Bartok’s second piano concerto; he had a fantastic memory... It was not so much his speed in playing as the electricity behind it, the personality that was magical. He has had a huge influence both on audiences and his fellow musicians. Added to which, he was a very nice man. Modest, although he knew precisely who he was. I cannot imagine that he would have hurt anybody. He helped young people at his festival in Senlis. I feel privileged to have known him personally.
I
heard that there were two fantastic pianists playing arrangements for four hands and I asked: who’s the other one? It turned out there wasn’t anyone else…
PHOTOS BY: Mihály Kondella, Albert Kresz, Hajnalka Berta, Mátyás Szöllősi, Eszter Asszonyi, János Posztós, Szilvia Csibi, Orsolya Egressy, Miklós Teknős, Tamás Griechisch, Eugene Evtukhov, Zoe Cura, Andrea Felvégi, Marco-Borggreve
