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Estefanía Montes Menéndezes@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -228
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Anton Gerzenberg is the first awardee of the new Martha Argerich Steinway Prize.
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Anton Gerzenberg, piano
Martha Argerich, piano
Arnold Schönberg, Suite for piano Op. 25
Pierre Boulez, Incises
Karol Szymanowski, Maski
Claude Debussy, Six épigraphes antiques
Igor Strawinsky, Fragment des Symphonies pour instruments à vent, à la mémoire de C. A. Debussy
Pierre Boulez, Piano Sonata No. 2
This rich concert experience, profound musicality and brilliant piano technique have benefited his multifaceted interpretations of Liszt as much as his interpretations of Brahms, Ravel and Bartók in recital. Julia Spinola, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Since winning first prize at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich in 2021 and being named “Great Talent” at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 2022-24, pianist Anton Gerzenberg, born in 1996, has made a name for himself in the music world: with a wide-ranging repertoire from Sweelinck to Lachenmann, he captivates audiences with his virtuoso and sensitive playing in sophisticated programs. In June 2024 he was awarded the Martha Argerich Steinway Prize.
In addition to continuing his collaboration at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Anton Gerzenberg will be invited to the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Musikverein Vienna, the Grazer Musikverein, the Nikolaisaal Potsdam, Le Piano Symphonique Lucerne and the Ruhr Piano Festival in the 2024/25 season. In spring 2025, an extensive Asian tour will take him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and China together with Lilya Zilberstein.
Anton Gerzenberg has already performed in numerous important concert halls around the world, such as the Tonhalle Zurich, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Franz Liszt Academy Budapest and the National Concert Hall of Taiwan, as well as at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Martha Argerich Festivals in Lugano and Hamburg. He has performed with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra, among others. His musical partners include Martha Argerich, Ilya Gringolts, Julia Hagen and Dora Schwarzberg as well as conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Stefan Blunier, Jonathan Stockhammer, Holly Hyun Choe and Nil Vendetti.
His interest in new music was particularly encouraged by his studies with the French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and led him to collaborate with important composers of our time. In 2019, he founded the ÉRMA Ensemble, which specializes in contemporary music, together with other young soloists. His studies had previously led him to Julia Suslin and Julija Botchkovskaia in Hamburg and Jan Jiracek von Armin in Vienna; he also received important inspiration from Robert Levin, Alfred Brendel and Bella Davidovich.
2024/25 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions, or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management
Ravel & Inspirations
Franz Schubert – 12 Valses nobles, D.969Frédéric Chopin – Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 42Maurice Ravel – Valses nobles et sentimentalesLeopold Godowsky – Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes from J. Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus”----------M.Ravel: Jeux d‘eauxF.Liszt: Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'EsteMaurice Ravel – Gaspard de la nuitMily Balakirev – Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)
Brahms & Liszt
Johannes Brahms – 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35 (Books I & II)
Franz Liszt – Six Consolations, S.172Franz Liszt – Sonata in B minor
Suggestion Diabolique
C. Tausig: Das Geisterschiff, Op. 1cG. Ligeti: “Der Zauberlehrling“ / Etude No. 10S. Prokofiev: Toccata in D minor, Op. 11G. Ligeti: „L‘escalier du diable“ / Etude No. 13S. Prokofiev: Suggestion diabolique, Op. 4 / 4G. Ligeti: “Vertige“ / Etude No. 9F. Liszt: Mephisto Waltz Nro. 1, S. 514---Interval---S. Rachmaninoff: “Le petit chaperon rouge“ / Etude Tableau A minor, Op. 39 / 6G. Ligeti: “En suspens“ / Etude No. 11S. Rachmaninoff: Etude Tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 33 / 3G. Ligeti: “Automne à Varsovie“ / Etude No. 6S. Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 36 (First Version)
Hungarian Melodies
Franz Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 “Rákóczi March”György Kurtág – All’ongherese – Homage to Gösta Neuwirth (from Játékok VII)Béla Bartók – Two Elegies, Op. 8bGyörgy Ligeti – Etudes, Book I (Nos. 1–6)
Béla Bartók – Allegro barbaroGyörgy Kurtág – Egyptian couple on the way to the unknown / DoubleFranz Schubert / Franz Liszt – Hungarian Melodies after François Schubert, S. 425
"Gerzenberg was in a league of his own. He seemed in total control, armed with uncommon self-assuredness for a pianist of his age. [...] He looks every bit a potential leading light of his generation.“
James Imam, Musical America Worldwide, 16/06/21
"Piano soloist Anton Gerzenberg gracefully navigates through this grand work with elegant touch. The richness of colors he draws from the piano is radiant."
Markus Schramek, Tiroler Tageszeitung, 21.04.2024
"This rich concert experience, profound musicality and brilliant piano technique have benefited his multifaceted interpretations of Liszt as much as his interpretations of Brahms, Ravel and Bartók in recital."
Julia Spinola, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), 06/06/21
"His {Anton Gerzenberg's} technical control is brilliant. So is his emphasis. "I wanted to be a volcanologist one day," he says later. Nothing came of it. But he channels the lava flow of Brahms' tones excellently."
Hans-Günter Fischer, Mannheimer Morgen, 10.4.24
"Suddenly there was a pianist on the stage who appeared as a background to the music and acted in such a way as to recognise the text of the notes in its subtlety. [...] He showed immense musicality, convincing in every nuance."
Carsten Dürer, Piano News 05/21
"Prokofiev's extremely virtuosic and almost acrobatic way of writing for the piano requires a player with a steel finger and sometimes even iron fists.Gerzenberg, who played with unobtrusive ease, was perfectly up to the task and managed to bring some personal touches to a much-played concerto. Particularly admirable was the agility with which Gerzenberg moved from pearly bright fingerwork to steely strong chords and octaves."
Hannu Hirvelä, Tilaajille, 10/11/2023
"...with power and brilliant technique. It allows Gerzenberg many colours and valeurs of expression to let Ligeti's infinite notes buzz, hammer, flow, sparkle - or even swing and flatter. A rousing and enriching concert experience far from the "talent" category, which one would like to see more often in "regular" concerts in such form and quality."
Stefan Musil, Die Presse, 06/06/2023
"...extravagant virtuosity ... Here [Liszt's "Années de Pélerinage: Suisse] the piano sound suddenly breaks into a hundred colours ... Despite appropriate thunder, the piece sounds thoroughly differentiated."
Peter Uehling, Berliner Zeitung, 16/05/2023