Martina Filjak - Piano

BIOGRAPHY

Brilliant, sensitive and imaginative playing with technical genius and natural musicality [...] remarkable individuality [...] a pianist to keep an eye on.
– The New York Times

The Croatian pianist Martina Filjak has made a name for herself in the international concert stage with her passionate playing and brilliant technical mastery of her instrument. With her charismatic personality and almost magnetic stage presence, she delights audiences and press alike.

Following her training at the Zagreb Music Academy, Martina Filjak continued her studies at the Vienna Conservatory, the Como Piano Academy and the Hanover University of Music, Theatre and Media. Her big breakthrough came in 2009 when she won first prize and the Beethoven Prize at the International Piano Competition in Cleveland. Since then, the artist has worked with renowned orchestras, particularly in the USA, Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe, and has performed piano recitals in major concert halls. She has performed at Carnegie Hall New York, Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Palau de la Música Catalana, Sala Verdi and Auditorio in Milan, Teatro San Carlo Naples, BOZAR in Brussels, Salle Gaveau in Paris and the Elbphilharmonie. Furthermore, she has played at fes­tivals such as MITO SettembreMusica in Milan and Turin, the Festival Pianistico Internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and at the Dubrovnik Festival, where she has been Artistic Director since September 2023.

In the 2024/2025 season, she will perform the Phantasie concertante by Croatian composer Dora Pejačević both with the Staatskapelle Weimar under John Axelrod and with the Hungarian Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra in Pécs under Tibor Bogányi. Other highlights in­clude performances of Liszt's First Piano Concerto with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and conductor Fabrizio Carminati, Brahms' First Piano Concerto with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto under the baton of Hannah von Wiehler, Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Cape Symphony Orchestra in Cape Cod, the Second Piano Concerto of Saint-Saëns in Asheville in North Carolina and the Piano Concerto by Ravel with the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, where she will also give a piano recital. With the Orquesta de Valencia, she will perform the piano concerto by Argentinian composer Claudia Montero. In Osijek, Croatia, she will inaugurate the new concert hall. With her trio partners Felix Klieser and Andrej Bielow, she will tour Estonia and perform in Lichtenstein.

Martina Filjak has performed as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra La Verdi Milano, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colón, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogota, the Japan Century Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Slovenia, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago de Chile, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Zagreb Soloists, the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, the Croation Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Phil­harmonique de Strasbourg.

In Germany, Martina Filjak has performed with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Hanover State Orchestra, the Mainz State Orchestra, the Chemnitz Philharmonic Orchestra, the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra in Chemnitz, the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Halle, the North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, among others.

With the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra Martina Filjak performed in Zagreb, with the Royal Camerata at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest and as part of the "Cycle of Great Pianists" with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago at the Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile. Martina Filjak has worked with conductors such as Michael Schønwandt, Heinrich Schiff, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Alexander Shelley, Hans Graf, Markus Poschner, Paul Good­win, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Carlos Miguel Preto and Stefan Sanderling.

Following her debut CD with sonatas by Antonio Soler and a chamber music recording with cellists Jan Vogler and Christian Poltéra, which was released by Sony Classical in 2013, her second solo CD with works by Schumann, Bach/Liszt and Scriabin was released on the label Solo Musica in fall 2016. In 2020, her album Light & Darkness was released on the Profil Edition Günter Hänssler label. This Liszt recording was very well received by the press - Frank Armbruster wrote in the trade magazine Concerti: "Martina Filjak really does justice to both: with her poetic imagination she reveals Liszt's profoundly romantic religiosity, but also lives up to the demands of his boundary-pushing virtuosity, yet always keeping it in check with a stu­pendous tonal sensitivity."

Martina Filjak's extensive repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio and includes more than 30 piano concertos. She also devotes herself to the exploration of lesser-known piano literature and various concert formats. Her particular passion for chamber music is reflected in her collaborations with such distinguished partners as the Szymanowski Quartet, the Amaryllis Quartet, the Ensemble Berlin, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Radovan Vlatkovic, Felix Klieser and Tatjana Vassiljeva.

She lives in her adopted city of Berlin, loves to travel and speaks seven languages.

Status: September 2024