10 Treurenberg, 1000 Brussels
Programme:
César Franck: Violin-Piano Sonata in A major
Jenő Hubay: Csárdajelenet Op. 13 No.2
Johannes Brahms: Violin-Piano Sonata in D minor No. 3
Béla Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1
Sebestyén Sztathatosz started playing the violin at the age of 5. Coming from a family full of musicians, poets and sculptures it was obvious from early on that he will become an artist of some sort. At the age of 14 he became a student of Ferenc Szecsődi, while already concertizing around the country. He has won first and second prizes in the London Classical Music Competition, King's Peak International Music Competition USA, Nouvelles Étoiles in Paris and the Zathureczky Violin Competition, Budapest.
He appeared as soloist and chamber musician in several festivals such as the Luzerne Music Festival NY, Festival Academy Budapest, Encuentro Santander and International Holland Music Sessions with great success, playing alongside top musicians such as Zakhar Bron, Giovanni Guzzo and José Gallardo. He has studied with artists like Albert Markov, Kirill Troussov, Zakhar Bron, Barnabas Kelemen, Boris Garlitsky, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Giovanni Guzzo, Christoph Poppen, Pieter Schoeman and Silvia Marcovici.
In March 2019 Sebestyen was accepted to the Manhattan School of Music, New York to study with Albert Markov. Because of the pandemic situation he decided to remain in Hungary. Currently he is pursuing his Master's degree at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in the class of Kristóf Baráti. Sebestyen is quickly building an international reputation as a rising soloist appearing at the most outstanding concert venues throughout the country and Europe such as the Hungarian Radio, Liszt Academy's Grand Hall, MÜPA Budapest, Kodály Központ and Palacio de Festivales Santander with orchestras like the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian Chamber Orchestra, Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, Szeged Symphony Orchestra, Europa Jugendorchester and the Virtuosos Chamber Ensemble.
He has recieved the prestigious Fischer Annie Scholarship in 2021 and 2022 as well. Sebestyen currently performs on an 1769 Lorenzo Carcassi on generous loan from the Paganini Music Shop.
Winner of the 2019 Bartók World Competition and a Junior Prima Prize recipient, Ádám Szokolay has given concerts throughout Europe, in such venues as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Salle Cortot in Paris, the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius and the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. In 2021, at the invitation of the Villa Musica Festival in Mainz, he performed a program of chamber music works by Ernest Chausson, with violinist Boris Garlitsky. In 2022 the BBC Radio broadcasted his recital with a program of works by Béla Bartók. His concerts in France and Lithuania have been broadcasted by Mezzo TV in 42 countries. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Savaria and Győr Symphony Orchestras, the Budapest Strings and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra among others, with such conductors as János Kovács, Mátyás Antal and Zsolt Hamar. Born in 1996, Ádám Szokolay started playing the piano at the age of four. He has studied in the Bard Conservatory of Music in New York, the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, the Mozarteum University Salzburg and the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, in the classes of Peter Serkin, Grigory Gruzman, Imre Rohmann, András Kemenes and Dénes Várjon. He participated in the masterclasses of extraordinary artists like Ferenc Rados, György Kurtág, Zoltán Kocsis, Richard Goode, Mikhail Voskresensky and Claudio
Martínez-Mehner. Prizewinner of numerous international competitions, Szokolay was awarded the Sári Bíró Memorial Award, the Fischer Annie Scholarship and the special prize of the Kocsis-Hauser Foundation in Hungary for his artistic work.