Martina Filjak - Piano

BIOGRAPHY 2022/2023

"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 world with her passionate playing and brilliant technical mastery of her instrument. She delights audiences and the press with her charismatic personality and magnetic stage presence.

After her training at the Zagreb Music Academy, Martina Filjak deepened her studies at the Vienna Conservatory, the Piano Academy in Como and the Hanover University of Music, Drama 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, especially in the USA, Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe, and has played piano recitals in major concert halls. She has already 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 and Salle Gaveau Paris.

After her concert highlights last season with the Kansas Symphony Orchestra (under Michael Francis) and the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra Ohio (under David Danzmayer), Martina Filjak will have her debut with the Staatsorchester Hamburg in the 2022/2023 season. Under the baton of Alexander Sladovsky, she will play the 1st Piano Concerto by Shostakovich.

She has also been invited to perform Grieg's Piano Concerto with RTV Slovenija in Ljubljana under Ville Matvejeff. At the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, she will open the season with Liszt's 1st Piano Concerto under the baton of General Music Director Hermann Bäumer, and at the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonic-Orchestra in Chemnitz, she will perform one of her showpieces under the baton of Diego Martin-Etxebarria: Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto.

She continues her chamber music collaboration with the horn player Felix Klieser and the violinist Andrej Bielow this season.

As a soloist, Martina Filjak has appeared in recent seasons with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Bremen Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Hanover State Orchestra, the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Halle State Orchestra, the North German Philharmonic Rostock and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

Recent season highlights were concerts with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogota, the Orchestra La Verdi Milano, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Japan Century Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Granada Symphony, Bilbao Symphony as well as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

Martina Filjak performed with the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra in Zagreb, with the Royal Camerata at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest and within 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.

After her debut CD with sonatas by Antonio Soler and a chamber music recording with cellists Jan Vogler and Christian Poltéra, released by Sony Classical in 2013, her second solo CD with works by Schumann, Bach/Liszt and Skrijabin was released by the Solo Musica label in autumn 2016. In 2020, her current album "Light & Darkness" was released by the label Profil Edition Günter Hänssler. The album with works by Liszt was very well received in the specialist press. Frank Armbruster wrote in concerti: "Martina Filjak does justice to both Liszt's deeply romantic religiosity, which she realises with poetic, imaginative power, but also to Liszt's boundary-breaking virtuosity, which always appears to be tamed by a stupendous sense of sound.”

Martina Filjak's vast repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio and includes more than 30 piano concertos. In addition, she has devoted herself to exploring lesser-known piano literature and various concert formats. Her particular passion for chamber music is evident in her collaborations with high-class partners such as the Szymanowski Quartet, the Amaryllis Quartet, Ensemble Berlin, as well as Dmitry Sinkovsky, Radovan Vlatkovic, Felix Klieser and Tatjana Vassiljeva.

The musician lives in her chosen home of Berlin, loves travelling and speaks seven languages.

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