Boganyi: Man and Instrument

This unique and beautifully intimate concert, set in the exquisite surroundings of Claregalway Castle, is part of the Irish tour for Hungarian Pianist Gergely Boganyi. One of four musical siblings, born of musical parents, Boganyi has won numerous international prizes for his playing, dazzling audiences from a very young age. Winning the Mozart and Chopin prizes in Budapest at 19, The piano competition in Indiana at 20 and the Liszt Competition at 22. He has also been awarded the Kossuth Prize in Hungary, which is the highest award an artist can receive.

While, as yet, the name Boganyi will be less familiar to many, compared to masters of Hungarian tradition like Andras Schiff and Zoltan Kocsis, it is beyond question in his own country that his playing is representative of the great legacy established by Franz Liszt. This concert will go some considerable way towards establishing his reputation in Ireland as one worthy of representing that tradition at its very highest level.

A demonstration of his prodigious talent, for this concert, will be the Chopin presentation. From over 90 pieces offered, the audience can select at will works to be performed, and Mr Boganyi will perform them as requested, from memory.

Program

By Liszt

· Funerailles

· Liebestraum (notturno no.3)

· Harmonies du Soir (from Etudes Transcendental)

· Legend no 1 (Francois de Assis is talking to the birds)

· Legend no 2 (Francois de Paola is walking on the water)

By Field

· Nocturne in E flat major

By Chopin

· A selection of works by the composer, but chosen by the audience on the night from a list of 90 separate compositions!

The Instrument

Almost 20 years ago the seed of an idea took root in the fertile imagination of Gergely Boganyi. The idea of a new piano sound. That led to the creation of a 17 layer carbon fibre soundboard, which then inspired level upon level of continuous change and development until today there now stands an instrument with over 52 international patents, in what are seen as evolutionary changes to what a piano is, and can become. This incredible, visually and aurally stunning, instrument comes to us for this debut concert and will, we hope, provoke dissent and argument, passions and love like none other. It is the first re-imagining of what a piano can be for over 150 years and real challenge to the normative concept of the world’s most beloved instrument.

This intimate event will be preceded by a Formal Reception hosted by the Hungarian Embassy and in the presence of Ambassador Gergely Banhegyi.