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BiographyMatei Varga is already established as one of the leading young artists of his native Romania and his prodigious talent is fast becoming recognized in the United States and Europe. His October 2008 debut performance at Zankel Hall was described by Rorianne Schrade of New York Concert Review as “masterful, [with] tremendous dynamic range [and showing] an exceptional mind at work”, whereas his account of Schumann’s Fantasy op. 17 at the Berlin Konzerthaus in August 2009 was hailed by Wolfgang Schrieber of Süddeutsche Zeitung as “magical”. Born in October 1980, Mr. Varga is a prizewinner of the “Maria Canals” competition in Barcelona, the “George Enescu” competition in Bucharest, the Porto International Piano Competition, and the Vendome Prize, where he was singled out by jury member Elisabeth Leonskaja who awarded him a special prize. During the 2007-2008 season, Mr. Varga won the Dorothy Mackenzie Artist Recognition Award at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, the “Salon de Virtuosi” Career Grant, and placed second at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In February 2005 he won the Mannes Concerto Competition and consequently performed the Chopin second piano concerto at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall under Otto-Werner Mueller. Mr. Varga has performed as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist at major venues around the world such as Zankel Hall, Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in New York, the Auditorium du Louvre and Salle Gaveau in Paris (where in March 2008 he presented the complete works for piano and violin by Johannes Brahms with violinist Eugen Tzikindelean), the Romanian Atheneum and the Radio Hall in Bucharest, Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm, Fondazione Cini in Venice, Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Rebecca Crown Auditorium in Jerusalem, and many others. He has also participated in various prestigious music festivals, including the International Keyboard Festival in New York City, Festival de Sintra (Portugal); Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto, Italy), Young Euro Classics (Berlin), the Music Festival of the Hamptons and the “George Enescu” International Festival (Bucharest). His discography includes two audio DVD releases: “Mozart and Schumann” and “Mixtures I: A Classical Surround Sampler”, both on AIX Records. His album with piano music by George Enescu was digitally released by Naxos in December 2009 and will be available in stores worldwide starting September 2010. Mr. Varga received his Bachelors degree from the Romanian National University of Music in 2004, where he studied with Ana Pitis, Ioana Minei and Sandu Sandrin, and went on to receive a Master of Music degree (2006) and a Professional Studies Diploma (2008) from New York’s Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Pavlina Dokovska. He has participated in Master Classes presented by Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Jacob Lateiner, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Raoul Sosa, and Jean Yves Thibaudet. Mr. Varga serves on the piano faculties of the Lucy Moses Music School and the Piano School of New York. He was recently appointed collaborative pianist at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. ----------
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