Real virtuosos stood on the stage of the Great Hall of the Hungarian House of Music last Monday. They took part in an audition, to which they were invited on the basis of a proposal from a panel of experts. They were chosen from among the Hungarian and foreign participants who have already proven themselves in different seasons of the Virtuosos. The Virtuosos Ensemble also took the stage. The venue, a contemporary architectural masterpiece with its organically undulating, perforated roof structure and huge glass walls behind the stage with the trees of the grove, provided a worthy setting for the wonderful performances.
For the first time, the Virtuosos International Artistic Committee, made up of renowned national and international musicians and talent management experts, met to listen to the performers, under the chairmanship of world-renowned opera singer-conductor Maestro Plácido Domingo, who has been supporting the Virtuosos for many years.
The aim of the audition was for the committee to select the three talents who would be selected at the end of the day for the Virtuosos International Talent Management Programme.
With the help of world-renowned producer and promoter Harvey Goldsmith, Croatian cellist superstar HAUSER, who has tens of millions of followers, and Simon Jones of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (International EMMY), they will be given special performances over the next two seasons through Virtuosos’ international network.
The audition took place in two rounds. In the first round, each participant performed a piece of in front of a panel of András Keller, violinist and conductor, Gergely Bogányi, pianist, Clara Dent, oboist, Petar Culic, guitarist, Marta Domingo, opera singer, Gábor Hollerung, conductor, Gábor Eckhardt, professor of piano, István Kohán, clarinet teacher and Simon Jones, executive producer.
The jury selected nine virtuosos after great performances, who returned to the stage in the second round. In this part they also had 12 minutes to prove their skills. The selected performers were:
Dániel Ali Lugosi-Fazekas, clarinet, Ildikó Rozsonits, piano, Ryan Martin Bradshaw, piano, Zsuzsanna Csabay, flute, Daniel Matejča, violin, Misi Boros, piano, Teo Gertler, violin, Eduard Kollert, violin.
András Keller, violinist and conductor, shared his opinion on the performances after the committee’s decision. “This afternoon has clearly shown the essence of the programme, which was aimed at discovering the real great talents. Not just talent, but extraordinary personalities who can interpret music authentically and captivate audiences, professionals and non-professionals alike. The three young people selected are Daniel Matejca, the fantastic violinist, Teo Gertler, the even younger fantastic violinist and pianist Misi Boros. They won this selection. They won with a clear majority in the jury’s opinion. I would also like to recommend the wonderful pianist Ryan Martin Bradshaw, who played the very deep Brahms pieces. I hope he will be supported in the Virtuosos series. Dániel Ali Lugosi-Fazekas on clarinet, Ildikó Rozsonits on piano and Eduard Kollert on violin played beautifully and with real virtuosity. Not everyone could win the selection, but there are no losers in this series, and everyone will have further suport,” said the violinist.
“The young talents selected by the Virtuosos International Artistic Committee in 2022, who will be given special international management by Virtuosi, will be given special international management by Virtuosos: Misi Boros (19, piano, winner of the Virtuosos first season); Daniel Matejča (17, violin, Czech winner of Virtuosos V4+); Teo Gertler (14, violin, special prize winner of Virtuosos V4+).
The committee decided to award special prizes to clarinetist Ali Lugosi, the first absolute winner of the Virtuosos; pianist Ryan Martin Bradshaw, the 14-year-old Slovak winner of Virtuosi V4+ (2021); and violinist Eduard Kollert. The Virtuosos Ensemble received the Special Prize of the Jury. The special prize is a solo concert and a masterclass offered by the Hungarian chairman of the jury, András Keller, Kossuth and Liszt Prize-awarded Hungarian violinist, conductor and music director of Concerto Budapest.
Mariann Peller, founder and producer of the Virtuosos, said: “It is a great pride for the Virtuosos discoverers to showcase their talents in front of such an international jury of experts.”
At the end of the audition, Maestro Plácido Domingo praised the young artists’ performance with these words:
Those we have heard today are all outstanding, great talents of classical music. It was very difficult to single out just a few of them, because they are all great young artists, at the top of their class. Thank you to these young people for their diligence, humility and perseverance in the service of the arts, and for keeping classical music alive and well.
– concludes Maestro Plácido Domingo.