| SUSANNA ARTZT - BIOGRAPHY
« Susanna Artzts tone
colours are second to none. PAUL LANFEAR, Piano Journal, England "Cultured touch is the magic word, with which Susanna Artzts
play can be characterized. At the same time she accentuates with fascinating
tension, so that these well known pieces sound in a fascinating novelty."
(Piano News) The Austrian pianist was born in Croatia and comes from a multicultural family: her father is an Indian and her mother is of southern Slav-Hungarian-Breton origin. Susanna Artzt showed an especially musical talent since her earliest childhood. At the age of 15 she was Croatia's youngest student when she was accepted in the class of Vladimir Krpan at the Zagreb Music Academy. At 16 she was discovered by Paul Badura-Skoda, who described her as an exceptional piano talent and immediately invited her to attend his class in Vienna at the University of Music. She completed her piano studies there as a Magistra artium with Michael Krist and achieved perfection during her post-graduate studies with Peter Efler. She also worked together with Jacob Lateiner, Murray Perahia, Rudolf Kehrer and Evgenij Timakin in the course of many master classes. During her study period Susanna Artzt was several times a prize winner in international piano competitions. Both of her CDs have brought her high critical acclaim internationally and Piano News in Germany named her debut CD CD of the months. Recitals followed at the Vienna Musikverein, at the KlangBogen Wien festival, at the Biennale Zagreb - World Music Days, the Heidelberger Frühling festival, the International Chopin Festival in Gaming, the Contemporary Music Week in Bucharest, live concerts with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne and at the International Schönberg Centre in Vienna, numerous piano concertos with orchestras, and radio- and television recordings for the ORF, WDR, RAI and HRT, among others. One of the highpoints of her career to date is undoubtedly the concert with Zubin Mehta, which took place on invitation of the maestro in Munich, and in which she celebrated a sensational success with the Second Piano Concerto by Saint -Saens. Only a few months later she played for the first time in New York, where she gave the first american performance of the Two Waltz-Impromptus op. 9 by Franz Schreker. While her lively solo concert activities are at the core of her artistic life, Susanna Artzt also undertakes chamber-music encounters with popular partners, such as the cellist Othmar Müller (Artis Quartett) or Tamás Varga, the principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. With her husband, the pianist Manfred Wagner-Artzt, she performs since 1998 successfully as the Arsio Piano Duo. She also has worked together with actors like Karl Markovics, Dorothee Hartinger, Michael König, etc. Susanna Artzt's wide-ranging repertoire includes works trom the Baroque to the contemporary modern, whereby she gives special attention to Mozart. Schubert and Chopin as well as the French and Russian modernist fore-runners.
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