Bela Hartmann on 9 February 2024

Venue: St. James Church, 197 Piccadilly, London (W1J 9LL)

Programme:

Bach Partita No.1 in B Flat BWV 825
Beethoven Sonata No 8 in C Minor “Pathetique” Op.13
Béla Hartmann 2 Poetic Piano Pieces (2023) Zart bewegt and Berauscht

Free Entry or Watch On YouTube

Biography:

Since becoming a semi-finalist at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2000 Béla Hartmann has enjoyed a wide ranging career, performing in venues from New York (Carnegie Hall) and London (Wigmore Hall) to smaller venues across the UK and Europe. His London series of the complete Piano Sonatas of Schubert at Steinway Hall culminated in the release of his highly praised debut CD of Schubert Piano Works (Meridian), and his performances for the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe at St James’s Piccadilly featured Beethoven’s piano variations, including the monumental Diabelli Variations. Aside from that his repertoire includes contemporary works by composers such as Birtwistle, Boulez and Bussotti, and he gave UK premieres of works by Jörg Widmann and Petr Eben. His most recent CD features the early Piano Concerto in A Minor by Mendelssohn, recorded with the Keld Ensemble. Béla Hartmann is also a keen musical essayist and has published articles and reviews on a wide range of music-related topics.

Béla Hartmann studied with Vadim Suchanov and Nicolas Economou in Munich, John Bingham at Trinity College of Music, London, and with Elisso Virssaladse in Munich.

Béla Hartmann only recently began composing but has in that time written a variety of small and large pieces for aspiring pianists. In 2023 Goodmusic published his critically acclaimed “Big Pieces for Small Hands”, a collection of intermediate to advanced piano pieces for players with small hands, originally written for his daughter, as well as his “2 Paraphrases on Songs by Brahms”, also for piano.