Student of the Liszt Academy won the competition of the Hungarian Cultural Center of the Balassi Institute in New York

25 November 2020

Valentin Magyar won first prize at a recent competition for young Hungarian pianists, after winning the Hungarian round of the international Yamaha Competition in February.

BA 2nd year student of Attila Némethy and Balázs Szokolay at the Liszt Academy won a competition called Young Hungarian Talents in Classical Music, organized by the Hungarian Cultural Center of the Balassi Institute in New York. The prestigious international jury included world-renowned, South Korean-born Steinway artist Klara Min, who teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, internationally renowned pianist Ádám György, and composer Gyula Fekete, who is the Vice-President of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music.

This is his second win at a music competition this year. This year’s annual Yamaha Music Europe GmbH scholarship was announced for pianists. The company awards a EUR 2,000 scholarship to a full-time student under the age of 25. In case of Hungary, this means that usually students from the Liszt Academy are eligible to participate in the programme. Six of the selected young talents from the students who applied for the scholarship had to prove their worthiness in a competition on 1 February in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy. Based on the decision of the jury consisting of heads of department Kálmán Dráfi and Gyula Fekete, as well as the university's piano professors, this competition – and with it the prestigious scholarship – was won by Valentin Magyar.