Jura Margulis

"C. Bechstein´s Instruments carry the soul and tradition of the greatest piano sound of Europe."

Jura Margulis

Concert pianist, recording artist, master teacher, lecturer, and author Jura Margulis has been internationally recognized for his compellingly communicative and emotionally charged performances, for the range of his expressive tonal palette and his consummate transcendental virtuosity, as well as for his innovative approach to specialized pedagogy, piano construction, repertoire, technology and pianistic tradition. Reviewers have praised the "absolute authority" of his interpretations and the sense of "controlled obsession" he transmits at the keyboard (Fono Forum). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that his aesthetic is both "impulsive and contemplative." The Los Angeles Times praised his "excellent pianism" and called him "highly musical:”. The Washington Post applauded his "titanic reserves of sheer power" and his "effortless spontaneity.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram called his performance "… the perfect Beethoven for the audience of our time … sweeping lyricism … imagination, originality, and good taste pervaded every phrase." Drehpunkt Kultur, Salzburg stated: "After the performance one fleetingly thinks of the pianists that became legends, but comparisons are impermissible. Margulis is a master sui generis (of his own kind)."

His orchestral appearances include performances with the Russian National Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, the Südwestrundfunk Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Venezuela, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. He has played in numerous festivals, including the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Berliner Festwochen at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Verbier, the Lugano, and the Sommets du Classique Festivals in Switzerland, the Argerich-Beppu Music Festival in Japan, the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg, and the Salzburger Festspiele in Austria. In his younger years Margulis was a laureate in more than a dozen national and international competitions, including Busoni in Italy and Guardian in Ireland. He was also a recipient of the DAAD scholarship and the esteemed Pro Europa prize awarded by the European Foundation for Culture.

Active as a chamber musician, Margulis is a founding member of the Margulis Piano Trio and performed with, among many others, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Lilya ZIlberstein, Alissa and Natalia Margulis, Alexander Buzlov, Mark Baranov, Arnold Bezuyen, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Moscow String Quartet. He also concerXzed with Martha Argerich on one and two pianos in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and the USA. Their next performance is schedule for 2024. In the last decade (-COVID years;-) he performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Dallas, CincinnaX, Salt Lake City, Liale Rock, Tulsa, Carmel, AusXn, Phoenix, San Jose, Minneapolis, Memphis, and New Orleans, as well as to Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Elmau, Berlin, Bologna, Bruxelles, Bayreuth, Budapest, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Paris, Cape Town, Madrid, Yerevan, Warsaw, Aix-en-Provence, Almaty, Ankara, Lugano, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Sapporo, Seoul, Shenzhen, Salzburg, Vienna, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, and Tallin.

Jura Margulis’s father and grandfather were significant pianists and pedagogues and methodical piano pedagogy is an integral part of his arXsXc vision. Born in Leningrad / St. Petersburg, UDSSR, Jura Margulis was raised in West Germany, where he studied with his father, Vitaly Margulis of Kharkiv, at the MusikHochschule Freiburg. He was also a student at the presXgious Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Cadenabbia at Lake Como in Italy. In 1994 he moved to the United States to study with maestro Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and made the US his home. A university professor by 30, Margulis in 2008 became the inaugural holder of the Emily J. McAllister Endowed Professorship in Piano at the J.W. Fulbright College of the University of AR State. In 2018 Jura Margulis returned to Europe following an appointment as full professor of piano and member of the Center of Science and Research at the Music and Art University in Vienna, Austria, where he resides.

Photos: © Andrej Grilc