Bruno Vlahek
Biographie Bruno Vlahek
Bruno Vlahek
ianist and composer Bruno Vlahek has distinguished himself as one of the most prominent and versatile musicians of his generation, being praised by the critics for his "fantastic virtuosity" and "depth of musical thought that bewitches the audiance".
Born 1986 in Zagreb (Croatia), it was there that he received first piano lessons at the age of 9. Only two years later, he already won the 1st prize at the Pinerolo International Piano Competition in Italy and became subsequently a two-time absolute winner at his native country's national competitions in Dubrovnik. He graduated as one of the youngest students in history of the Zagreb Music Academy with Vladimir Krpan, obtained a soloist diploma at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne with Jean-François Antonioli and received his master's degree with Vassily Lobanov at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, where he also studied composition and improvisation. From 2010-13 he studied with legendary Russian pianist and pedagogue Dmitri Bashkirov at the Queen Sofía College of Music in Madrid. Big further impact on Bruno's piano career were the contacts he had with artists such as Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Menahem Pressler, Ferenc Rados, Masaaki Suzuki and Gábor Takács-Nagy.
Bruno Vlahek is winner of highest prizes of many prestigious piano competition, such as those of Paris, Shanghai or Lyon. In his native country he received a title of the Young Musician of The Year, awarded by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently received the Swiss prize "Paderewski", Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe's Award, Pnina Salzman Memorial Award in Israel and Arists on Globe Award. At the same time, as a composer, he was awarded first prize at the International Composition Competitions "Cristóbal Halffter" in Spain, and won the discographic award „Porin“ as well as the „Stjepan Šulek Award“ for the best composition of the year 2019, among others. For his achievements he was awarded by the Honorary Diploma from the hands of Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain. He regularly appears as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Russia and Middle East - in venues such as Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Mozarteum Salzburg, Dubai Opera, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Moscow's Kremlin, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Shanghai Concert Hall or Seoul Arts Centre, as well as at the festivals of Dubrovnik, Bolzano, Moscow, Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Dar-es-Salaam or Verbier. He toured China several times and is a regular guest to some of the country' finest venues.
His performances were broadcasted on TV and radio stations such as British BBC 3, Dutch NPO Radio 4, Spanish RTVE and Catalunya Ràdio or Radio Suisse Romande, for which he recorded Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto with Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. In 2020 he published two discs: „Touches“ dedicated to piano solo works by L. Bernstein, G. Ligeti and I. Stravinsky, as well as another one with complete „Etudes-tableaux“ by S. Rachmaninov. He collaborated with conductors and chamber music partners such as Leopold Hager, Milan Horvat, Jaime Martín, Pascal Rophé, David Danzmayr, Diemut Poppen, Philippe Muller, Alexander Ghindin, Cyprien Katsaris or Viktor Tretyakov. He performs with great success with his wife Dubravka Vukalović as D&B Piano Duo, with whom he became a prizewinner of the International Piano Duo Competition in Monte-Carlo in 2013.
He has written numerous orchestral, chamber, solo and choral works of various genres which have been performed on five continents in cities such as New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Lisbon, Prague, Salzburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Seoul or Singapore, and at the ISCM’s World New Music Days in Sydney (Australia). Vlahek's works have been awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and have been published in Croatia, United Kingdom and the USA. He is currently appointed professor at the Katarina Gurska Music Conservatory of Madrid, serves as a member of international competitions and gives masterclasses all over the world.
