Martina Filjak (born 1978 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

) is a

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concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Biography

Martina Filjak started playing piano at the age of 5 and held her first public performance aged 6. She completed her studies at the

Music Academy in Zagreb The Academy of Music ( hr, Muzička akademija or MUZA) is a Croatian music school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art and the Academy of Fine Arts. ...

, the

Vienna Conservatoire The Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna ( (MUK)) in Vienna, Austria, is a university of music and the arts. It was previously (2005−2015) named (KONSuni, Konservatorium Wien University), and before that (Conservatory of Vienna). ...

, the

Hochschule für Musik A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

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and additionally at the

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

Piano Academy. Filjak was awarded the 2007 Concorso Busoni's 5th prize, and subsequently won the 2007

Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...

and 2008 Maria Canals competitions. In addition, she won the

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92-key models in addition to instrument ...

Prize. In 2009 she won the first prize at the 2009

Cleveland International Piano Competition The Cleveland International Piano Competition is an American piano competition that takes place biennially in Cleveland, Ohio. The initial Competition in 1975 and the nine others that followed were sponsored jointly by the Robert Casadesus Society ...

. Martina Filjak has performed with esteemed orchestras of her home country and abroad, including

The Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Sev ...

; the Zagreb, Strasbourg, Morocco, Belgrade and Torino

Philharmonic An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

s; the Barcelona, Bilbao, Chautauqua, Tenerife, Chile and Moscow Symphony Orchestras; the Georgian Chamber Orchestra of Ingolstadt, Croatian Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa under such esteemed conductors as

Jahja Ling Jahja Ling () is a conductor, music director and pianist. From 2004 to 2017, he was the music director and conductor at the San Diego Symphony. Following his retirement in 2017, he plans to do guest conducting, as well as teaching and voluntee ...

, Christian Zacharias, Heinrich Schiff, Theodor Guschlbauer and

Stefan Sanderling Stefan Sanderling (born 2 August 1964 in East Berlin, East Germany) is an orchestral conductor. He is the son of the conductor Kurt Sanderling and the double-bass player Barbara Sanderling. His half-brother is the conductor Thomas Sanderling. ...

. As a recitalist as well as concerto soloist, Ms. Filjak has performed in such major venues as the Concertgebouw in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, Konzerthaus Berlin, L'Auditori and Palau de la Música Catalana in

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Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

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Palais de la musique et des congrès The Palais de la musique et des congrès (official English name: Strasbourg Convention Centre) is a music venue and convention center in the Wacken district of Strasbourg, France, close to the European quarter. It is home to the orchestra, Orches ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Shanghai Oriental Art Center The Shanghai Oriental Art Center (), abbreviated SHOAC, is one of the leading performance and cultural facilities in Shanghai. The five interconnected hemispherical halls or "petals" are shaped to resemble a butterfly orchid from above.SHOAC"Prel ...

and the

Severance Hall Severance Hall is a concert hall located in the University Circle section of Cleveland, Ohio. Opened in 1931, Severance Hall was named after patrons John L. Severance and his wife, Elisabeth Huntingdon DeWitt Severance, and serves as the hom ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in December 2009 received excellent reviews by the

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critic

Anthony Tommasini Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief ...

praising her 'resourcefulness of her technique and the naturalness of her musicality' and declaring her 'a pianist to watch'. In October 2009 she was additionally awarded an Honorary Medal by the President of the Republic of Croatia for her artistic achievements. In the 2010 and 2011 she performs with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and

Christoph Poppen Christoph Poppen (born 9 March 1956) is a German conductor, violinist and academic teacher. Career Poppen was born in Münster. As a violinist, he was awarded first prize in the Kocian Violin Competition age 14. He studied the violin with Kur ...

, at the Al Bustan Festival in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, the

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

Symphony Orchestra and the

Hong Kong Sinfonietta The Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Chinese: ) is a professional symphony orchestra based in Hong Kong. It was established in 1990 by a group of local music graduates. It has always aimed at promoting classical music to the public. The orchestra was reorga ...

and as a recitalist at the

Munich Residenz The Residenz (, ''Residence'') in central Munich is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and displ ...

and at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. Future performances include appearances with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra,

The Florida Orchestra The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the T ...

, the

Boston Philharmonic The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (not to be confused with the Boston Symphony Orchestra) is a semi-professional orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1979. Their concerts take place at New England Conserv ...

, the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, the

Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

and the Granada Symphony Orchestra. Miss Filjak is a Croatian and Italian

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

and speaks 7

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Discography

*2001 –

Album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

''Piano passionato'' / Tutico Classic *2011 – CD ''Antonio Soler: Keyboard Sonatas Nos. 1–15'' / Martina Filjak, Piano / Naxos *2013 – CD ''Robert Schumann: Andante and Variations Op. 46'' / Jan Vogler, Christian Poltéra (Cellos), Juho Pohjonen, Martina Filjak (Pianos), Johannes Dengler (Horn) / Sony Classical *2017 – CD ''Piano: J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, Alexander Scriabin'' / Martina Filjak, Piano / Solo Musica

Awards and honors

* 1993 – prize of the

Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra ( Croatian: ''Zagrebačka filharmonija'') is an orchestra based in Zagreb, Croatia. It was officially founded on the 30 November 1919. History The origins of the orchestra can be found in the opera ensemble of ...

* 1998 – prize of the

Jeunesses Musicales Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) is the largest youth music non-governmental organisation in the world, created in Brussels, Belgium in 1945, with the mission to "enable young people to develop through music across all boundaries". JMI ha ...

Croatia * 2005 – honorary award at the ''Animato'' Competition in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

* 2007 – 5th prize in the finals of the

Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is a music competition for young pianists that takes place in Bolzano, Italy. It was founded in 1949 by Cesare Nordio in memory of the pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. History The fir ...

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

* 2007 – 1st prize at the

Viotti International Music Competition The Viotti International Music Competition ( it, Concorso Internazionale di Musica Viotti), named after the Italian composer and violinist Gian (Giovanni) Battista Viotti (1755–1824), is held every year in Vercelli, Piedmont. It was founded by vi ...

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* 2008 – '' Vladimir Nazor Award'' (annual award for the year 2007) * 2008 – '' Milka Trnina Award'' (for the year 2007) * 2008 – 1st prize and ''Gold Medal'' at the

Maria Canals International Music Competition The Maria Canals International Music Competition ( ca, Concurs Internacional de Música Maria Canals Barcelona, ) is a music competition held yearly in the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona. It was founded as a piano competition in 1954, but ...

* 2008 – ''Orlando Award'' at the 59th

Dubrovnik Summer Festival The Dubrovnik Summer Festival ( hr, Dubrovačke ljetne igre; is an annually-held summer festival instituted in 1950 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is held every year between 10 July and 25 August. On more than 70 open-air venues of Renaissance-Baroq ...

* 2009 – 1st prize & ''Gold Medal'' at the

* 2009 –

Order of the Croatian Interlace The Order of the Croatian Interlace or Order of the Early Croatian three-strand pattern ( hr, Red hrvatskog pletera) is the seventeenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is aw ...

for outstanding musical achievements * 2013. – ''Judita Award'' for best artistic achievement at the 59th Split Summer Festival

References

External links

*
Columbia Artists Management – Instrumentalists: Martina Filjak

The International Keyboard Institute & Festival: Martina Filjak

Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition

* ttp://www.clevelandpiano.org/piano-competition/archives/previous-medalists/ Cleveland International Piano Competition: Past Competition Medalists
Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Filjak, Martina Living people Croatian classical pianists Women classical pianists 1978 births Maria Canals International Music Competition prize-winners Prize-winners of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Musicians from Zagreb Cleveland International Piano Competition prize-winners 21st-century classical pianists