Hungarian pianist János Balázs is a returning performer at world-class music venues, also artistic director of the György Cziffra Festival. He graduated at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Since he won the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition at the age of 16, he has become a highly influential personality of the Hungarian classical music life. Even before receiving his diploma, he won prizes at five major competitions and received several awards, like the Liszt Ferenc-, Prima- and Gramofon Prizes and the Artist of Merit of Hungary Award. In 2014, he was selected as the Rising Star Artist of the Season from among the artists of 19 countries. In 2017 he was awarded with the Musicians’ Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. He was member of the jury of Virtuosos, a classical talent show, and in 2018 was jury member of the French Cziffra Competition. In 2019, at the age of 31 he was awarded with the Kossuth Prize and the title of the Young Steinway Artist. Since 2021 he has been corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. In 2022 he received prestigious an American award at the Music International Grand Prix, an international music competition. The Audience Favourite Award went to Hungarian Pianist János Balázs, who also won first place in the Adult Piano Category.
Music critiques highlight the delicacy and diverse colours of his piano playing, his unlimited dynamic scale and his fascinating virtuosity. Attending János Balázs’ concerts is a genuine time travel, as he evokes with full force the intimate ambience of the composers and pianists of the so-called 19th-century golden age, like Franz Liszt or Frédéric Chopin.
He performed with soloists and conductors such as Mischa Maisky, Tamás Vásáry, José Cura, Vadim Repin, Charles-Olivieri Munroe, Pinchas Steinberg, Stéphane Denéve, Jukka Iisakkila, Ksenia Zharko, Roger Bausier, David Mathues, and Gwendolyn Masin. He gave concerts to great public acclaim at the most renowned concert halls of the world, like the Concertgebouw, the Cité de la Musique, the Palau de Musica, the Barbican Centre, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Teatro Colón (Bogotá), the Bozar, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Royal Conservatory (Toronto) and the „Cziffra-chapel” (Senlis).
With the intention of honouring and preserving the legacy of Georges Cziffra in 2016 he founded the Cziffra Music Festival and Awards for talents.
