CONCERT: Maria Machowska, violin, Zoltán Fejérvári, piano and Uki Ovaskainen, piano

MADLENIANUM, Zemun,
3 October at 19:00h

Concerts by Polish violinist Maria Machowska, accompanied by pianist Uki Ovaskainen, and Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejérvári under the patronage of the International Visegrad Fund

Concerts by Polish violinist Maria Machowska, accompanied by pianist Uki Ovaskainen, and of the outstanding Hungarian pianist, Zoltán Fejérvári were held at Madlenianum in Zemun, in cooperation with the International Visegrad Fund and in the presence of the ambassadors of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries.

Maria Machowska, violin (Poland)

Prizewinner of the 13th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań (2006).

She holds the position of concertmaster at the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in 1987 in Warsaw. Despite her young age, the violinist has already been successful as an artist having performed many pieces of the most difficult violin repertoire in all European countries, as well as in the USA, Canada, China and Israel. As a soloist and a chamber player she appeared on the stages of such significant concert venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Great Hall of Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and the Conservatories in Salzburg, Bern, Lausanne, Geneva, Basel, Locarno, Vienna and Madrid.

She studied violin with Mirosław Ławrynowicz, Marek Zebura and graduated from the class of Konstanty Andrzej Kulka at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.

She has performed with the majority of Polish philharmonic orchestras, including the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Polish Radio Orchestra. Maria Machowska has worked with many outstanding conductors, such as Jerzy Maksymiuk, Jan Krenz, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Enrique Bariz, Tadeusz Strugała, Wojciech Rajski, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Saulius Sondeckis, Massimiliano Caldi, Nikolai Diadiura, Łukasz Borowicz, Jerzy Swoboda, Tomasz Bugaj, Michał Dworzyński, Miguel Gomez Martinez, Daniel Raiskin, Joel Sachs, George Tchitchinadze, as well as notable artists – Ida Haendel, Augustin Dumay, Martha Argerich, Krzysztof Penderecki, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Eduard Schmieder, Wolfgang Marschner, Jacek Kaspszyk, Marc Minkowski. In 2003 she performed Pablo Sarasate’s Navarra in a duo with Vadim Brodsi during the concert on the International Day of Music at the Warsaw Philharmonic, which was broadcast live on Polish Television.

As a soloist and a chamber player, she made an appearance at numerous festivals – La Folle Journée, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, I Palpiti Festival of International Laureates, Polish Violin Masters String Festival, the Bronisław Huberman Violin Festival.

She participated in the European concert tour of the Polish Chamber Orchestra during which the ensemble performed with Maxim Vengerov in the most renown European concert halls, including Berliner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Barbican Center in London. The artist has made recordings for TV stations in Poland, Japan, Germany, France and Switzerland. She has recorded for DUX and Arte Prealable labels. Her recordings have been released on Barbara Kaszuba’s album and the International Wieniawski Violin Competition CD chronicles.

Maria Machowska won 5th Prize at the 13th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań (2006), Special Prize of the Jury led by Gidon Kremer at the International Leopold Mozart Competition in Augsburg (2006), 1st Prize at the International Niccolo Paganini Competition in Wrocław (2004) and 3rd Prize at the International Karol Lipiński and Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Lublin (2003).

In 2007 and 2012 the violinist received the “Young Poland” scholarship.

She has been the concertmaster of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra since 2008.

In the 2014/2015 artistic season, she is a concertmaster of Warsaw Philharmonic.

Since 2012 she has also been involved as a lecturer in the Sinfonia Varsovia Academy – an educational project designed to raise qualifications of the orchestral musicians.

She has been an assistant professor at the Frederic Chopin Music University in Warsaw since 2013.

Maria Machowska is represented by the Ludwig van Beethoven Association.

Zoltán Fejérvári, piano (Hungary)

Born in Budapest in 1986, he studied at the Franz Liszt Music Academy of Budapest with András Kemenes, Dénes Várjon, Rita Wagner, Márta Gulyás and Gábor Csalog. Between 2006 and 2008 he attended on a fellowship Dmitri Bashkirov’s class at the Queen Sofía College of Music, Madrid. He was a prizewinner at several international competitions: Cantù International Piano Competition, Italy (first prize), James Mottram International Piano Competition, United Kingdom (second prize), Ricard Viñes International Piano Competition, Spain (second prize).

He has participated in several international music festivals (Tiszadob Piano Festival, Encuentro de Música de Santander, “Lisztomania” in Chateauroux, IMS Prussia Cove, CMCW Kronberg, Marlboro Music Festival), as well as in Carnegie Hall’s Professional Training Workshop under the direction of András Schiff.

As a soloist, Zoltán Fejérvári has appeared with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Strings, the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Solti Chamber Orchestra. He has worked with such famous musicians as Zoltán Kocsis, Iván Fischer, András Keller, Gary Hoffman, Zakhar Bron, Frans Helmerson, Ivan Monighetti, Joseph Lin.

In 2011 he recorded Liszt’s Piano Concerto in E minor, “Malédiction” with the Budapest Chamber Symphony directed by Imre Rohmann. This release on the Hungaroton label won the “Grand Prix du Disque” of the Liszt Society in 2013.

Uki Ovaskainen, piano (Finland)

Uki Ovaskainen was born in Espoo, Finland in 1975. He plays the piano since he was five, and the first time performed with an orchestra at the age of eleven. From 1989 to 1996 he studied with Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and from 1996 to 1999 with Professor Jose Ribera at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he graduated with the highest degrees. He has participated in masterclasses with Pnina Salzman, Charles Rosen, Andras Schiff, Yahli Wagman, Emanuel Krasowsky and Matti Raekallio. From 2003 to 2005 he was on postgraduate studies with prof. Ribera in the soloist class in Copenhagen, which he finished with a recital in October 2005.

From October 2006 he was on postgraduate studies with prof. Matti Raekallio in the soloist class of Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover

Uki Ovaskainen is active as a soloist and chamber musician with concerts in all Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Israel, Spain, Russia, Serbia and Croatia. He has played recitals at festivals such as Espoo International Piano Festival, Golden Days of Copenhagen, Memorial Josip Slavenski and Mantta Music Festival, and performed at various chamber music festivals such as Mattsee Diabellisommer, Burgos International Music Festival, Festivo-Chiemgau and Weilburger Schlosskonzerte.

Uki Ovaskainen got the 1.prize, as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of contemporary work and the prize of the audience in the “Premio Jaen” competition, April 2007. The competition has 3 solo rounds and a finale with the orchestra.

In March 2004 he got the 2. prize and Chamber music special award in the international piano competition Isidor Bajic in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Uki Ovaskainen is the artistic organizer of “Uki Ovaskainen Chamber Tour” in Denmark that was for the first time organized in February 2007. He played in Konzerthaus in Vienna, in chamber music series of Vienna Chamber Orchestra and he was correpetitor of “Opera Faber” in Portugal (artistic director Ivan Ludlow).

From 2001 he works as an accompanist for strings at the Belgrade Faculty of Music.

Uki Ovaskainen has received Yamaha scholarship in 1999 and a Sonning prize in 2005.