17. OCTOBER 2025. 7:30 p.m.

II CARPATHIAN BASIN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION OPENING CONCERT

SAINT STEPHEN’S CONCERT HALL – ZÁBORSZKY JÓZSEF HALL
(1145, Budapest, Columbus street 11.)

Program:

Rahmanyinov:
Prelude in C minor, Op. 23/7
Études-Tableaux in C minor, Op. 39/7
Prelude in E major, Op. 32/3
Melody in E major, Op. 3/3
Serenade in B minor, Op. 3/5
Prelude in B major, Op. 23/2
performed by: Vajda Vince

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11
Kodály: Dances of Marossék
performed by Máté Paládi

Eugen Suchoň: Wedding Dance
Liszt: Obermann's Valley
performed by Tamás Fekete

Three young talents will take the stage at the opening concert of the II. Carpathian Basin International Piano Competition. Vince Vajda is the grand prize winner of the first competition held in 2021. After graduating from the Bartók Konzi, he began his higher education at the Northwestern Swiss College of Music in Basel under the guidance of Zoltán Fejérvári. Russian piano literature is close to him – he even speaks the language – and this is also shown by the program of this concert: he will perform an impressive selection of Rachmaninoff's lyrical piano works. The series opens with perhaps the composer's most famous piano work, the Prelude in C minor, a performance of which requires the performer not only great hands but also a rich emotional palette. Vajda has included two more of the 24 preludes in his program, but he will also perform the brilliant Études-Tableaux in C minor, as well as two movements – Melody in E major and Serenade in B minor – from the collection Morceaux de fantaisie. The second speaker of the evening is nineteen-year-old Máté Paládi, who grew up in the village of Tiszapéter in Transcarpathia and is currently a student at the Academy of Music. He participated in the Virtuosos talent show and has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the National Theatre, the Pesti Vigadó, and the Bartók Memorial House. This time, he performed a work by Liszt and Kodály. Although Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11 (in A minor) is not among the best-known of the series, it displays all of Liszt's trademark tools, from almost supernatural virtuosity to effortless lyricism. The orchestrated version of Kodály's "Dances of Maroszcze" is perhaps even more popular than the original piano version. The composer arranged the folk melodies in a variational rondo form, and the attentive listener can discover a kind of narrative behind the sounds. Tamás Fekete also has roots beyond the border and is connected to the festival. He began his music studies in Érsekújvár, then completed high school and university in Bratislava, and is currently a doctoral student at the Budapest Academy of Music and a piano teacher at the Bratislava Conservatory. First, he will perform a work by one of the most significant Slovak composers of the twentieth century, Eugen Suchoň: the Wedding Dance is from his opera The Whirlpool, and depicts a traditional Slovak wedding. The evening will close with Ferenc Liszt's deservedly popular piano piece, Obermann's Valley, from Volume I of The Pilgrimage. The play was inspired by the Swiss landscape, as well as Étienne Pivert de Senancour's epistolary novel Oberman, and with its melancholic atmosphere, we can discover the quintessence of romanticism.

Participation in the concert is free, but registration is required.
You can register at the following link: 

https://karpatfesztival.hu/hangverseny/nyitohangverseny-regisztracio.html

Performers

was born in 2005 in Tiszapéterfalva, Transcarpathia. He began his musical studies at the age of seven at the local music school. In 2020, he was admitted to the Zádor Dezső Secondary School of Music, where he developed his musical skills for three years under the guidance of Marianna Szakács. Since September 2023, he has been a piano student at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, studying in the classes of Professors Gábor Eckhardt and Balázs Réti.
Alongside his classical music studies, he is also interested in improvisation and composition, and is drawn to the world of jazz.
His competition achievements include Second Prize and a Special Prize at the 2025 Jubilee Virtuosos Talent Show, as well as the Concorde Award. In addition, he is a scholarship holder of the National Talent Program.
He has performed in numerous prestigious concert venues, including the Uzhhorod Philharmonic, the Pesti Vigadó, Müpa Budapest, the Budapest Music Center, the National Theatre, the Bartók Memorial House, the Nádor Hall, the Hungarian House of Music, the Liszt Academy of Music, and the concert hall of the Old Liszt Academy. He has also performed in Austria, Germany, and Belgium.

Born in 1993 in Nové Zámky, Slovakia, he began his piano studies at the Nové Zámky Music School with Beáta Bukai. From 2009, he studied at the Bratislava Conservatory under Mgr. art. Katarína Dibáková, and in 2014 he was admitted to the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, continuing his studies with Prof. Ida Černecká. Since 2019, he has been pursuing doctoral studies and also spent a year in a trainee program at JAMU in Brno, studying under Prof. Jan Jiraský. Alongside his studies, he has been actively engaged in chamber music, working with František Pergler at the Bratislava Academy.
He has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Dina Yoffe, Eugen Indjic, Balázs Szokolay, Elena Richter, and Zoltán Fejérvári. He represented Slovakia at the “V4 Young Talents Festival” in Sárospatak, Hungary, and reached the finals of Hungary’s “Virtuosos 2018” television competition.
His international achievements include first prize with a piano trio at the “ART 21” International Competition in Vienna, third prize at the Tadini Piano Competition in Bergamo (2019), second prize at the London Piano Competition (2022), and third prize at the International Piano Competition in Târgu Mureș (2024). He has also participated in major piano projects at the Bratislava Academy, including Rachmaninov Four Hands, Pour les Pianos, and the Bratislava Piano Carnival.
In 2019, he performed Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Slovak Philharmonic at the Reduta in Bratislava, conducted by Rastislav Štúr. His first solo album, featuring works by Liszt and Rachmaninov, was released in 2023.

Born in Budapest in 2002, he began his piano studies at the age of eight at the György Solti Music School in Budapest’s 12th district, studying with Vera Kertészné Éliás. From 2018, he continued his studies at the Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music under the guidance of Sára Faddi and Balázs Kecskés.
Among his major competition achievements are second prizes at the National Chamber Music Competition in 2020 and 2023, second prize at the 4th International Danubia Talents Competition, and the Grand Prize at the 1st Carpathian Basin International Piano Competition (2021).
He has performed in prominent venues including the Solti Hall and Grand Hall of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, the Budapest Music Center, and in the United States at the Von Braun Center with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gregory Vajda.
Alongside his studies, he has participated in masterclasses with renowned performers and professors, including Zoltán Fejérvári, András Kemenes, Márta Gulyás, Rita Wagner, Imogen Cooper, and Maxim Rysanov.
Since 2023, he has been studying at the Basel Academy of Music (FHNW), continuing his studies as a student of Zoltán Fejérvári.