Honens Piano Podcast

Today is the final episode of the Honens @ Home: Meet the Quarterfinalists series. In this episode, we meet Dominic Muzzi. Dominic is no stranger to winning competitions—he started winning when he was only a teenager. He is currently enrolled in the doctoral program at Indiana University, where his teacher, 2003 Honens Laureate Roberto Plano, might have put the Honens bug in his ear.

In this video, Dominic shares the third movement,...

You might recognize today's featured Quarterfinalist from the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition—Austrian pianist and 2018 Semifinalist Philipp Scheucher has returned for the 2022 Competition.

Today, Philipp shares with us his own arrangement of Radetzky March by Johann Strauss. Philipp says: "We are exposed to so much negative news, the joy of music and music making can be healing." We couldn't agree mo...

Today, we hear from Honens Quarterfinalist Zhora Sargsyan with a performance of Rachmaninov's Étude-tableau Op. 39 No. 5.

Zhora poetically describes this piece as very dramatic and a little bit Wagnerian: symphonic and polyphonic. He suggests listening for the single melodic line pitted against the mass of chords. The melody has to overcome the heaviness and insist on its existence. In the end, Zhora says the drama r...

This week, we are pleased to feature KaJeng Wong. KaJeng, born in Hong Kong, has studied in the US, UK, and Sweden. He is the Artistic Director of Music Lab (a non-profit organization in Hong Kong that believes in the value of performance and its power to connect with people), and is interested in collaborative projects involving dance and theatre. He's also the subject of an award-winning documentary about his growth as a you...

In this episode, enjoy J.S. Bach's theatrical Toccata in D Major BWV 912 performed by Italian pianist and Honens Quarterfinalist Danilo Mascetti. 

Since 2014, Danilo has been the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Arte Solidate Festival at Lake Como, an annual international classical music festival and charity in Italy. In addition to supporting young artists, the festival collaborates with local social organizations to su...

Today we meet 2022 Honens Quarterfinalist Lorenzo Soulès. Lorenzo, born in Lyon, France, completed his studies in Cologne.

Lorenzo has chosen a selection from Isaac Albéniz's Iberia to share with us. Iberia is one of the great masterpieces for piano, evoking the colours and atmosphere of Spain. It's a suite divided into four books, each made up of three pieces. Lorenzo performs El Albaicin, named for a district in Granada,...

Today, we are pleased to feature a pianist all the way from Australia! Honens Quarterfinalist Alexander Yau is a multi-talented musician. He's a skilled clarinetist, a classical tenor, and additionally, he composes and arranges his own pieces. 

In this podcast, Alexander makes his debut as a conductor from the keyboard. Enjoy this performance of the slow movement from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K. 488.
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This week, we are pleased to share two miniatures from Russian pianist and 2022 Honens Quarterfinalist Dmitry Yudin. The first piece is a familiar work by Mendelssohn, transcribed by Rachmaninov, and the second is a work by the less well-known early 20th century composer Sergei Lyapunov.

These two pieces are ones Dmitry never tires of playing. He says each has "its own unique character: a mysterious, elegant, and ironic scherzo...

If you follow piano competitions around the world, you may have already heard about this week's featured Quarterfinalist. Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Choni has won prizes at numerous competitions throughout his career. Most recently, he was named a Finalist in the 2021 Leeds Competition.

Enjoy this video from Dmytro, performing one of his favourite works, Claude Debussy's L’Isle Joyeuse (The Joyous Isle).

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Welcome back to Honens @ Home.

Today we are pleased to feature 2022 Quarterfinalist George Fu. George, a Chinese-American pianist and composer, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Harvard University before beginning music studies at the Curtis Institute and the Royal Academy.  

In this performance, with two works inspired by J.S. Bach, you will experience George's talents as both a pianist and composer—Rachmaninov's t...

In this episode of Open Lid, Catherine McClelland, Honens Director, Artistic Planning catches up with Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann, also known as the Bergmann Duo. Hear about how they met and started playing together, the impact competitions have had on their career, the different challenges of playing piano duet versus piano duo, what each of them brings to the duo, their relationship with contemporary composer William Bolcom, Ma...

What a year it has been.

It's hard to believe that it's already the end of 2021. But as we look back, we’re grateful to have continued to share the joy of music with you.

This is the last edition of Honens @ Home for the year. We will be back with more music in January. 

We are looking forward to 2022 (and the Competition!) with great anticipation. Until then, enjoy this special Holiday Edition of Honens @ Home from Honens A...