Bruno Vlahek
{{Short description|Croatian-born pianist and composer (born 1986)}}
{{Infobox person
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| name = Bruno Vlahek
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1986|02|11}}
| birth_place = Zagreb, Croatia
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| education = {{ubl|University of Zagreb|Lausanne Conservatory|Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln|Queen Sofía College of Music}}
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| occupation = Pianist and composer
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| spouse = Dubravka Vukalović
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| awards = Porin (music award)
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Bruno Vlahek (born 11 February 1986 in Zagreb) is a Croatian pianist and composer.
Vlahek started his musical education at the age of nine in his hometown. Immediately recognized as a specially gifted child, he entered class of Vladimir Krpan and graduated piano at the Zagreb Academy of Music as one of the youngest students in the history of this institution.{{cite web |url=http://www.recitalmusic.net/spweb/details.php?catno=RM279&exactmatch=Y |title=Ave Verum Corpus |publisher=Recital Music |date= |accessdate=2012-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402143100/http://www.recitalmusic.net/spweb/details.php?catno=RM279&exactmatch=Y |archive-date=2012-04-02 |url-status=dead }} He obtained a soloist diploma at the Conservatoire de Lausanne with Jean-François Antonioli and received a master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Köln where his teachers were Vassily Lobanov (piano), Tilmann Claus and Johannes Fritsch (composition and improvisation). From 2010 to 2013 he studied with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid.
Pianist
Vlahek's piano playing has been noted for "fantastic virtuosity"{{Cite web |url=http://www.brunovlahek.com/en/press.htm |title=Bruno Vlahek - PRESS |access-date=2016-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917003350/http://brunovlahek.com/en/press.htm |archive-date=2016-09-17 |url-status=dead }} and "depth of musical thought that bewitches the audience".{{Cite web |url=http://www.com-pris.nl/vlahek.htm# |title=Compris |access-date=2016-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817085448/http://www.com-pris.nl/vlahek.htm# |archive-date=2016-08-17 |url-status=dead }} The critics have called him a "New Pogorelich".{{Cite web|url=http://www.tjedno.hr/bruno-vlahek-novi-pogoreli/|title=Bruno Vlahek Novi Pogorelić – *** Portal Tjedno **}} He regularly gives recitals and appears as a soloist with orchestras throughout Europe, in Asia, Africa, South America, Russia and Israel; in the venues such as Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Dubai Opera, St Martin-in-the-Fields, National Auditorium of Music in Madrid, Gasteig in Munich, Mozarteum Salzburg, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Shanghai Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Centre; and at the festivals of Bolzano,{{cite web |url=http://www.stol.it/Artikel/Kultur/Musik/Busoni-Wettbewerb-Erster-Finaldurchgang-beendet |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914135105/http://www.stol.it/Artikel/Kultur/Musik/Busoni-Wettbewerb-Erster-Finaldurchgang-beendet |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-14 |title=Busoni Wettbewerb: Erster Finaldurchgang beendet / Musik / Kultur im Überblick / Artikel / Home - stol.it - Suedtirol Online mit Nachrichten, Bildern und Videos |language=de |publisher=stol.it |date=2012-02-05 |accessdate=2012-02-12 }} Dubrovnik, Vienna, Moscow, Palma de Mallorca, Dar-es-Salaam, Verbier and many others. His performances were broadcast on TV and radio stations such as France Musique,{{Cite web|url=https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/en-pistes/premier-enregistrement-chopin-pour-la-pianiste-anna-vinnitskaya-92751|title = Premier enregistrement Chopin pour la pianiste Anna Vinnitskaya| date=15 February 2021 }} British BBC3, Dutch NPO Radio 4, Catalunya Ràdio, Australian ABC Classic Radio{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/classic/programs/saturday-baroque/saturday-baroque-utrecht-te-deum-and-jubilate/13087616|title=Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, Bach's French Suite No.5 and more|website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=25 January 2021}} or Radio Suisse Romande, for which he recorded Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. He regularly performs with his wife Dubravka Vukalović as D&B Duo.{{cite web|url=http://www.mbz.hr/eng/arhiv/2011/umjetnici/8|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217163216/http://www.mbz.hr/eng/arhiv/2011/umjetnici/8|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 February 2013|title=Archive - Programme for 2011 - MBZ|work=mbz.hr|accessdate=19 November 2012}} He also appears as a concert organist.{{Cite web |url=http://www.catedralbcn.org/images/stories/concerts/orgue_feb16.pdf |title=Cinquè Cicle dels Concerts d’Orgue 2015-16 | language=es |access-date=2016-07-07 |archive-date=2017-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511074844/http://www.catedralbcn.org/images/stories/concerts/orgue_feb16.pdf |url-status=dead }}
He is a first prize winner of the international piano competitions “Ricard Viñes” 2008 in Lérida {{cite web|url=http://www.paeria.es/auditori/cricardvines/cat/historia_3.htm |title=GUANYADORS D'EDICIONS ANTERIORS | language=es |accessdate=2009-04-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103192146/http://www.paeria.es/auditori/cricardvines/cat/historia_3.htm |archivedate=2010-01-03 }} and “Alexander Scriabin” 2010 in Paris,{{cite web|url=http://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=30688 |title=Bruno Vlahek awarded in Paris |publisher=Culturenet.hr |date=2010-03-31 |accessdate=2012-02-12}} and laureate of the 6th China Shanghai International Piano Competition and Concours International de Piano de Lyon (France),{{Cite web |url=http://www.gpipl.fr/html/laureats_2016.php# |title=Concours International de Piano de Lyon - Accueil |access-date=2016-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709195706/http://www.gpipl.fr/html/laureats_2016.php# |archive-date=2016-07-09 |url-status=dead }} received a title of the Young Musician of The Year 2010 given by Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in Croatia, and won prizes such as Swiss Prix Paderewski, Yamaha Foundation's Award in Madrid, Pnina Salzman Memorial Award in Israel and Artists on Globe Award 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=39124 |title=Bruno Vlahek awarded in Israel |publisher=Culturenet.hr |date=2011-08-19 |accessdate=2012-02-12}} For his achievements he was awarded by the Honorary Diploma of Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain.{{cite web|url=https://www.escuelasuperiordemusicareinasofia.es/E_AntiguosAlumnos_AlumnosSobresalientes.aspx#curso2010 |title=Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. Estudiantes. Alumnos sobresalientes |accessdate=2016-07-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817073530/https://www.escuelasuperiordemusicareinasofia.es/E_AntiguosAlumnos_AlumnosSobresalientes.aspx |archivedate=2016-08-17 }}
Composer
He has composed more than 60 orchestral, chamber, solo and choral works of various genres which have been performed on five continents in cities such as New York City, Chicago, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Lisbon, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Singapore or Seoul, and at the ISCM's World New Music Days 2010 in Sydney (Australia).{{cite web |url=http://www.worldnewmusicdays.com.au/?page_id=456 |title=Momentary Pleasures - 2010 ISCM World New Music Days |publisher=Worldnewmusicdays.com.au |date=2010-05-04 |accessdate=2012-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822103246/http://www.worldnewmusicdays.com.au/?page_id=456 |archive-date=2011-08-22 |url-status=dead }} In 2012 he won the 1st prize at the XXXIII International competition for organ works "Cristobal Halffter" in Spain. He won the Porin (music award) for the best composition of classical music in 2018 for his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, and in 2025 for his Acumal for Guitar Trio, {{Cite web|url=https://www.hds.hr/izdanja-cantusa-i-hds-a-osvojila-sest-nominacija-za-glazbenu-nagradu-porin/|title = Izdanja Cantusa i HDS-a osvojila šest nominacija za glazbenu nagradu Porin | HDS}} as well as Stjepan Šulek Award for the best composition of the year 2019 in Croatia.{{cite web| url=https://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=95538 | access-date=2023-12-22 | title=Bruno Vlahek dobitnik nagrade za skladateljsko djelo za 2019 | language=hr | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114154204/https://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=95538 | archive-date=2020-01-14}} His works have been published in United Kingdom and USA.{{cite web |url=http://www.bassclarinet.org/alea/ALEA1070.html |title=Alea Publishing - Bruno Vlahek: Rhapsody for Bass Clarinet and Piano |publisher=Bassclarinet.org |date= |accessdate=2012-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224045828/http://www.bassclarinet.org/alea/ALEA1070.html |archive-date=2012-02-24 |url-status=dead }}
Discography
- Touches - works by Leonard Bernstein, Gyorgy Ligeti and Igor Stravinsky (Croatia Records)
- Rachmaninoff: Etudes-Tableaux Op. 33 & Op. 39 (PlayClassics)
- Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol. 26 (Naxos)
- Ottava alta: Sonatas for violin and piano by Bruno Bjelinski and Stjepan Šulek (Vox primus, with violinist Goran Končar)
- Scaramouche: Piano Duo works by Alfi Kabiljo, Manuel de Falla, Darius Milhaud and Leonard Bernstein (Vox primus, as D&B Duo)
In December 2020 his recording of 22 keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti was published on Naxos label. Some of those sonatas come from various Italian, Spanish and Portuguese manuscripts and are presented here on the first modern piano recording.{{Cite web|url=https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.574221|title = SCARLATTI, D.: Keyboard Sonatas (Complete), Vol. 26 (Vlahek) - 8.574221}} The album has been critically acclaimed, while the Belgian classical music magazine Crescendo compared it to those of Christian Zacharias and Vladimir Horowitz.{{Cite web|url=https://www.crescendo-magazine.be/naxos-poursuit-son-integrale-des-sonates-de-scarlatti-avec-de-rares-pieces-delicatement-servies/?fbclid=IwAR18Q08J-7jc1L5Wt9r1VMwVZ-Sb8olI4IA6Wfp9irnKPkOo03NDOtsL9TI|title = Naxos poursuit son intégrale des sonates de Scarlatti avec de rares pièces, délicatement servies| date=23 March 2021 }}
References
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External links
- [http://www.brunovlahek.com Official website of Bruno Vlahek]
- {{IMSLP|id=Vlahek, Bruno}}
- {{ChoralWiki|Bruno Vlahek}}
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Category:21st-century Croatian classical pianists