C. Bechstein grand pianos are "living" instruments with soul. As a pianist one can easily find the right sound for very different composers. I felt especially at home with Schubert, Brahms and Chopin but also Mozart and Bartók.
Dénes Várjon
His sensational technique, deep musicality and wide range of interest have made Dénes Várjon one of the most exciting and highly regarded participants of international musical life. He is a universal musician: excellent soloist, first-class chamber musician, artistic director of festivals and highly sought–after pedagogue.
Widely considered one of the greatest chamber musicians, he works regularly with preeminent partners such as Steven Isserlis, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi or Joshua Bell. As a soloist he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall. He is frequently invited to work with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras such as Budapest Festival Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Russian National Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Among the conductors he has worked with we find Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Heinz Holliger, Horst Stein, Leopold Hager and Zoltán Kocsis. He appears regularly at leading international festivals from Marlboro to Salzburg and Edinburgh.
With his wife Izabella Simon he founded a piano duo that performs in four hand and two piano recitals. In the past decade the two organized and led several chamber music festivals, the most recent one being „kamara.hu” at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. In recent years Mr. Várjon has built a close cooperation with Alfred Brendel: their joint Liszt project was presented, among others, in the UK and Italy.
He has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio and Hungaroton labels with critical acclaim. Teldec released his CD with Sándor Veress’s “Hommage à Paul Klee” (performed with András Schiff, Heinz Holliger and the Budapest Festival Orchestra). His recording “Hommage à Géza Anda”, (PAN-Classics Switzerland) has received very important international echoes. His solo CD with pieces of Berg, Janáček and Liszt was released in 2012 by ECM. In 2015 he recorded the Schumann piano concerto with the WDR Symphonieorchester and Heinz Holliger, and all five Beethoven piano concertos with Concerto Budapest and András Keller.
Dénes Várjon graduated from the Franz Liszt Music Academy in 1991, where his professors included Sándor Falvai, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. Parallel to his studies he was regular participant at international master classes with András Schiff. Dénes Várjon won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio, at the Leó Weiner Chamber Music Competition in Budapest and at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich. He was awarded with the Liszt, the Sándor Veress and the Bartók-Pásztory Prizes. In 2020 he received Hungary’s supreme award in culture, the Kossuth Prize. Mr. Várjon works also for Henle’s Urtext Editions.
To play on a C. Bechstein piano is a very unique inspiration for me. The qualities of these instruments combine the safe and reliable touch of a modern piano with the very personal sound world of the beautiful instruments from the past. This later quality is the most important for me. Grand pianos by C. Bechstein are "living" instruments with soul. As a pianist one can easily find the right sound for very different composers. I felt especially at home with Schubert, Brahms and Chopin but also Mozart and Bartók. I really hope that we will have the chance to play on these wonderful instruments more and more all over the world.
Dénes Várjon
Photos: © Balázs Böröcz/Pilvax Studio
