Treurenberg 10, 1000 Brussels
Eszter Karasszon, cellist, and Éva Szalai, pianist, invite us on a journey of discovery into the work of early and late Romantic women composers. Is there a perceptible difference between the works of male and female composers, or is it only the conservative tradition that relegates the latter to the background? Many of them are hardly known to today's audiences or are only mentioned in connection with their husbands or brothers. Through the works of two French, two German and one Hungarian female composers, we gain an insight into a hitherto almost unknown slice of European Romantic music.
Eszter Karasszon was born into a family of musicians. She achieved her first success in a music competition at the age of 8, which was followed by several outstanding results over the years, such as 1st prize at the Popper Dávid International Gordon Competition, 1st prize at the Dohnányi Ernő Chamber Music Competition, 1st prize at the János Starker National Cello Competition. Her master at the Academy of Music was the Kossuth Prize-winning Csaba Onczay, and in 2023 she received his doctorate. She had the opportunity to polish his playing in numerous courses. She participated in the master classes of János Starker, Steven Isserlis, Gustav Rivinius, Emilio Colón, Reinhard Latzko.
She has performed in America, Asia and Israel. She has performed at European festivals such as the Folle Journée in France, the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander in Spain, The International Holland Music Session. In Hungary, she is invited to the "kamara.hu" festival, run by Dénes Várjon and Izabella Simon, every year. She is a returning soloist at the Days of Silence, the Valley of Arts Festival and the Klassz a pARTon Festival, among others.
In addition to her solo work, Eszter Karasszon has also had valuable chamber music successes. She has performed with artists such as Iveta Apkalna and David Guerrier. She has worked as a soloist with Péter Eötvös, János Kovács and Ádám Medveczky, among others. She is a member of Concerto Budapest.
Éva Szalai's "impressive musicality, noble performance and deep commitment to music are what make her attractive" - praised her former teacher, the legendary Russian professor Dmitry Baskirov.
She has performed in many countries in Europe, the United States, Chile and Israel, and in the Netherlands he performed Liszt's "Love Dreams" at the Royal Princely Wedding. As a soloist with orchestra, she has performed piano concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov, and since 2019 she and Eszter Karasszon have been performing regularly together in chamber music. She has won first prizes at several international piano competitions (Adilia Alieva International Piano Competition - France 2008, Alain Marinaro International Piano Competition - France 2010, Semper Music International Music Competition - Italy 2016) and two special prizes at the International Piano Competition in Bremen in 2007.
She started her piano studies in Kiskőrös, a small town in the lowlands of Hungary, and continued her studies at the Kodály School in Kecskemét, before graduating with honours from the Budapest Academy of Music. She also studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2023, she was awarded the Bács-Kiskun Vármegyei Prima Prize, and in 2024 he received a DLA doctorate from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.