Suzana Bartal

Suzana Bartal establishes herself as one of the foremost pianists of her generation. Her playing has been hailed as “brilliant, full of shades and virtuosic” by the Bonner Anzeiger. Recent performances have taken her to prestigious venues such as the big hall of the Paris Philharmonie, the Auditorium of Radio France, the Auditorium of the Musée du Louvre, Salle Pleyel and the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Merkin Hall in New York, the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Los Angeles, the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venise, as well as Milton Court in London. Highlights include concerts at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence, the Festival de l’Epau, the Rencontres Musicales Evian, the Festival Berlioz, the Festival de Besançon, Festival “Classique au Vert” in Paris, the Vichy Opera House, the Kaposvar Chamber Music Festival in Hungary, Schloss Elmau in Germany and the Turku Music Festival in Finland.

She has made appearances on ARTE Concert, the French radio (Europe 1, France Musique, Radio Classique, Radio France Internationale), Rai 3 Radio Italy, RTS Espace 2 Switzerland, the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the WDR (West Deutscher Rundfunk), the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), the Danish Radio (DR), Radio Klassik Austria, the Belgian Radio RTBF3, the Hungarian and  Romanian  radio, as well as French, Portuguese, Hungarian and Romanian television channels.

After performing on several occasions the complete Liszt “Années de pèlerinage” in three concerts on the same day, her recording of this cycle was released in a triple abum on the label Naïve in March 2020 to praiseful reviews: ““These three perfect discs (…) consacrate the new priestess that the piano of Liszt was awaiting” (Jean-Charles Hoffelé).

Praised by the international critic, the album has received a prize from the Liszt Society in Budapest, as well as “5 stars” from the German magazine Fono Forum, as well as Classical Source UK. It was chosen “CD of the day” on Radio Klassik Austria.

Her most recent CD recording was published in May 2022 on the prestigious label Erato/Warner Classics and includes chamber music works by Eric Tanguy with partners Edgar Moreau, Alexandra Conunova, Lise Berthaud, Pierre Génisson and the Diotima Quartet. This recording was awarded the Diapason d’Or of the Year 2022.

Suzana Bartal has been appointed the new artistic director of the Festival Piano à Riom starting its 34th edition in 2020.

Her first album with solo works by Schumann has been released in March 2016 by Paraty (Harmonia Mundi distribution) and has been warmly received by the critics. The recording was « Coup de coeur » on Radio France Internationale and Bertrand Boissard wrote in the magazine Diapason : “The depth of her touch combines with the richness of the textures (…) the playing is characterized by its softness, seduces by its plasticity (..) assuredly, a musician.”

She performed under the baton of conductors Marc Minkowski, Christian Vasquez, Eivind Aadland, Marzena Diakun, Ariel Zuckermann, Adrien Perruchon, Roberto Fores Veses, Peter Oundjian, Eero Lehtimäki, Kensho Watanabe, Pieter-Jelle de Boer, with ensembles such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, Orchestre National d’Auvergne, Orchestre Pasdeloup, the Orchestre National d’Avignon, the Saarbrücken State Orchestra, the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, the Joensuu Symphony Orchestra, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Kecskemét Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Lamoureux or the Madeira Classical Orchestra.

Suzana’s wide range of repertoire reaches from solo works and concertos to chamber music works, all of which she actively and passionately performs. She has given concerts all around the world: in Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, UK, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal, France and Romania as well as the US, China and Japan.

Suzana is also an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music and has worked with some of the most significant composers of our day, such as Thomas Adès, Eric Tanguy and Régis Campo. She performed the world premiere of Tanguy’s “Rhapsodie” for viola and piano with Lise Berthaud at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence. This premiere was described as being of a “jubilatory virtuosity” by Thierry Hillériteau (Le Figaro). She also collaborated with Oscar-winning film composer Gabriel Yared.

Extremely active as a chamber musician, Suzana has performed with violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Kristóf Baráti, Josef Spacek, Alina Pogostkina, Andrey Baranov, Julia Pusker, Rosanne Philippens, Alexandra Conunova, Sayaka Shoji, Alexandra Soumm, Mayu Kishima, Déborah Nemtanu, Guillaume Sutre, violists Lise Berthaud and Pierre Lenert, cellists Henri Demarquette, István Várdai, Benedict Klöckner, Claudio Bohorquez, Edgar Moreau and Aurélien Pascal, clarinetists Pierre Génisson and Raphaël Sévère, trumpet/horn player David Guerrier, the Quatuor Diotima, Calder, Zaïde and Van Kuijk, as well as the tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac.

Suzana Bartal was the winner of the New York Concert Artists Concerto Competition in 2013 and has made her NYC debut with orchestra in 2014. She was also the winner of the 2012 Woolsey Concerto Competition. A recipient of the prestigious scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, Suzana has also been supported by the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger, the ADAMI and the Williamson Foundation.