János Palojtay

János Palojtay has attracted international attention through his profound, powerful, and natural musicianship and pianism. He launched his international career after winning Third Prize at the Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition in 2012. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in many of Europe’s leading concert halls, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Salle Cortot in Paris, as well as at prominent venues in the United States such as Herbst Theatre in San Francisco and Carnegie Hall in New York.

As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Concerto Budapest, and the Philharmonic Society Orchestra of Budapest, under conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Gergely Vajda, Martin Rajna, and Christian Blex.

In the 2017/18 season, Sir András Schiff selected János as one of the pianists for the Building Bridges European concert series. He is a regular guest at the Marlboro Music Festival at the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida and has also been a frequent participant in IMS Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music seminar, among other prestigious international festivals. His chamber music partners have included Miklós Perényi, Kristóf Baráti, Júlia Pusker, Pablo Hernán Benedí and Lev Sivkov.

Since 2023, János has served as Kirill Gerstein’s assistant at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, and since 2024 has also taught chamber music at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.