Valeria Szervánszky. Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, born in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 and now a resident of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. She is a classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 pianist.

Biography

Valeria Szervánszky studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Pál Kadosa

Pál Kadosa

Pál Kadosa was a piano teacher and Hungarian composer of the post-Bartók generation. His early style was influenced by Hungarian folklore while his later works were more toward Hindemith and expressively forceful idioms. He was born in Léva. He studied at the national Hungarian Royal Academy...

 and György Kurtág

György Kurtág

György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...

. In 1973 she joined the highly prestigious class of Prof. Hans Leygraf at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, and on graduating returned to the Liszt Academy to teach the Exceptionally Gifted Children's Class with Prof. Klára Máthé and also work as an assistant to Prof. Kadosa. She also played for the cello class of Miklos Perényi. In 1979 she took up a position as professor of piano at the Musashino Academy of Music in Tokyo and taught in Japan until moving to London in 1986.
Valeria Szervánszky is the daughter of the post-impressionist artist, Jenö Szervánszky

Jenö Szervánszky

- Biography :The following is an adaption of an article on the web site dedicated to the Szervánszky family - Early StudyJenö Szervánszky studied with Oszkár Glatz at the College of Fine Arts in Budapest...

 and the niece of the composer, Endre Szervánszky

Endre Szervánszky

Endre Szervánszky was a Hungarian composer.-Biography:...

 and violinist, Peter Szervánszky

Peter Szervánszky

Péter Szervánszky was a Hungarian violinist.On 5 January 1944, Péter gave the first performance in Hungary of Béla Bartók's 2nd violin concerto. Bartók had already left Hungary for the United States and left the score with the eminent musicologist Bence Szabolcsi...

.

Teaching & Masterclasses

Active as both a pianist and teacher - a field in which she has an international reputation - Valeria Szervánszky travels to Tokyo several times a year for master-classes and teaching. In London she teaches at the Purcell School.
She is also in demand for music courses and has taught at the International Bartók Festival in Hungary, the British Kodály Academy, the twentieth-century music course at the Centre Acanthes, Avignon, the Orlando Festival in Holland and the International Musician's Seminar at Prussia Cove.

Performances

Since 1979, Valeria Szervánszky has concentrated primarily on the piano duo partnership with her husband, Ronald Cavaye

Ronald Cavaye

Ronald Cavaye is a British pianist, born in England and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is a classical pianist and writer.-Biography:Ronald Cavaye was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, UK. He began to play the piano at the age of 11 and entered the music department of Winchester School of Art at...

 and they have performed extensively in Europe and the Far East - particularly in Japan. They have broadcast for the BBC and Hungarian Radio and also recorded the Mozart concertos for two and three pianos and Stravinsky’s own arrangement of The The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...

 for piano duet, together with works by Ravel and Debussy.
They also have a special working and personal relationship with the Hungarian composer, György Kurtág –
• In the autumn of 1996 Valeria Szervánszky directed Kurtág’s incidental music incorporated in a new production of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...

's play Der Pol (The Pole) in Berlin, Paris (Paris Autumn Festival), Zurich and Lausanne.
• Valeria Szervánszky and Ronald Cavaye made the first complete CD recording of the first four volumes (solos, duets and two pianos) of Játékok – Games.
• At the 1994 International Bartók Festival they gave the Hungarian première of Kurtág’s Lebenslauf for two pianos and two basset horns and have since performed the work in Budapest and London (with members of the London Sinfonietta

London Sinfonietta

The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...

).
Valeria Szervánszky and Ronald Cavaye have written a guide for teachers and students to the first volume of Mikrokosmos by Béla Bartók published in Japanese by the Zen-On Music Publishing Company.

Valeria Szervánszky is a Steinway

Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...

Artist.