Aleksandar Madžar

Born in Belgrade in 1968, Aleksandar Madžar first studied piano with Gordana Matinovic, Arbo Valdma and Eliso Virsaladze in Belgrade and Moscow, then with Edouard Mirzoian at the Strasbourg Conservatory and in Brussels with Daniel Blumenthal. He now holds professorships at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire, Brussels and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Bern.

In 2009/10 season Madžar plays on many different continents – notably in China he is soloist with the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, in Boston USA he performs in recital at the Isabella Stewart Museum. In Europe he gives recitals in London’s Wigmore, Milan’s Conservatorio Giuspeppe Verdi, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw halls whilst maintaining close duo partnerships with violinist Ilya Gringolts, and soprano Juliana Banse. In a new collaboration with Liza Ferschtman they perform duo recitals in Holland, the Hague, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

In 2008/09 Madžar maintained his schedule of diverse performance activities taking him world wide: in recital he returned to Tokyo, as also to Paris, Théâtre de la Ville, Cardiff and the Vlaanders Festival. With Stuttgart Philharmonic he performed in Milan’s Conservatorio G Verdi, in January 2009 with Seoul Philharmonic under Myung Whun Chung and returned to the Irish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Belfast Symphony and Belgrade Philharmonic. Aleksandar Madžar’s partnership with violinist Ilya Gringolts has seen them perform a complete Beethoven cycle at the 2008 Verbier Festival and again in Quito, South America in Summer 2009. Following the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Violin Sonata at St Magnus and Cheltenham Festivals in summer 2008, recitals at Prague and Beethovenfest Bonn Festivals followed. His partnership with soprano Juliane Banse continued this season with concerts in Bilbao, Valencia, Leon and Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation. After a successful cooperation with the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s 2007 summer festival, under the Artistic leadership of colleague Anthony Marwood the two further collaborate in recital in Edinburgh, and future plans include a cycle at the Wigmore Hall starting in 2010/11 season.

Of his prize in the 1996 Leeds Piano Competition Gerald Larner of The Times described Madžar as 'the most imaginative musician among the 1996 finalists'. The Leeds competition propelled Madžar onto the UK scene where he also became a sought after soloist with the Royal and BBC Philharmonics, BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, as well as throughout Europe and Asia working with Paavo Berglund, Ivan Fischer, Paavo Järvi, Carlos Kalmar, John Nelson, Libor Pesek, André Previn, Andris Nelsons and the late Marcello Viotti.

In 2007/08 Aleksandar Madžar’s US recital debut on the Miami International Piano Festival was an astounding success. He is a regular guest artist at the festivals of Bad Kissingen, Schleswig Holstein, the Ivo Pogorelich Festival at Bad Wörishofen, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Davos, Roque d'Antheron, Salzburg, Sintra and Aldeburgh. His discography includes the two Chopin piano concertos, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Dmitri Kitaenko for BMG/Classic FM (1997), for the French label Arion (1999) a disc of Chabrier's music for two pianos and, working regularly with cellist Louise Hopkins, a disc of Elliot Carter, Rachmaninov and Schnittke for the Swedish label Intim Musik.