Katalin Csillagh

Born in Budapest in 1981, pianist Katalin Csillagh was ten when she gave a performance of her own compositions in the Great Hall of the Franz Liszt Music Academy. As an extraordinary talent she was admitted to the Bartók Béla Conservatory of Music at the age of twelve. At the Liszt Ferenc University of Music she studied piano under professor György Nádor and graduated with top honours in 2005.

In 2001 she was awarded a two-year scholarship to the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she was taught by professors Leon Fleischer and John Perry In the same year she also received a scholarship from the Pro Renovanda Cultura Hungariae Foundation. She completed her post-graduate studies under Imre Rohmann at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 2008. She has attended the master classes of several great musicians:, Alberto Portugheis, Boris Berezowski, Jenő Jandó, Oleg Maisenberg, László Baranyay, Ferenc Rados and took part in the improvisation and composition course of Messiaen's discipline Emmy Henz-Diémand.

Her talent has been acknowledged by first prizes at international competitions. In 2007 she won first prize at the chamber music competition of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe in London. In 1999 first prize at the international piano competition of EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association London).In 1998 Kadosa Prize at the National Piano Competition. She has had concerts in Vienna, London, Toronto, Salzburg, Nice and several European festivals. She has performed in the Great Hall of the Music Academy in Budapest several times. Already during her studies she had performances with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra. They accompanied her in Beethoven's C major Piano Concerto which she played with her own cadenza. In 2007 she had the honour to represent Hungary in the Hungarian Cultural Institute in London under the aegis of the Kodály Jubilee Year.

Her recordings have been played by the Hungarian Radio and Television. Her solo CD Sonatas (SW 2000) and her chamber music CD Shades of Bach with János Vázsonyi (BMC, 2001) have scored great success in several countries. Her new CD including Chopin's 24 Preludes and Improvistions was released in 2008.