Hungarian pianist Peter Józsa, born in 1975 has been giving concerts all over Europe since the age of 16. In 2013 he was appointed professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, and now presents a 2-CD-album by the title “Portrait” featuring works that have had a significant influence on the artist in the course of his career. These include the Sonatas in B minor, Hob. XVI:32, and A flat major, Hob. XVI:46, by Joseph Haydn, the Sonata in A minor, D537, by Franz Schubert and the 7 Fantasies, op.116, by Johannes Brahms. On the second CD there are virtuoso pieces by Frédéric Chopin such as the Impromptu no.2, op.36, the Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, op. posth. 66, the Fantaisie in F minor, op.49, and the Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, op.61, as well as rather calm, contemplative works by Franz Liszt, which illuminate his poetic and religious side. Thus this portrait ends with Les Funérailles, Ave Maria in E major, Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, Nuages gris and Recueillement.

Born in Hungary in 1975, Peter Józsa is considered among the most remarkable pianists of the younger generation. His countryman, the great pianist Zoltán Kocsis, described him as a “brilliant and mature artist who clearly belongs among the top pianists.” Already at the age of ten he was admitted as a special talent to the preparatory course of the piano department at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. In 1997, he continued his studies in the masterclass of Prof. Boris Bloch at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. He has performed regularly since the age of sixteen and has given concerts in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Lebanon. Józsa has won numerous awards and his playing has been documented on various CD and radio recordings.