Arts Global

One of the brightest instrumental talents to emerge from Croatia today, Martina Filjak is garnering international praise not only for her poetic passion and galvanizing strength at the keyboard, but also for her charismatic personality and magnetic stage presence. Since making her orchestral debut at the age of 12 with Croatia’s renowned Zagreb Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Ms Filjak has achieved a graceful transition from a child prodigy to a mature artist of both technical prowess and elegant artistry.

Ms Filjak has performed with esteemed orchestras of her home country and abroad, including The Cleveland Orchestra; the Zagreb, Strasbourg, Morocco, Belgrade and Torino Philharmonics; the Barcelona, Bilbao, Chautauqua, Tenerife, Chile and Moscow Symphony Orchestras; the Georgian Chamber Orchestra of Ingolstadt, Croatian Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa under such esteemed conductors as Jahja Ling, Christian Zacharias, Heinrich Schiff, Theodor Guschlbauer and Stefan Sanderling. As a recitalist as well as concerto soloist, Ms Filjak has performed in such major venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, l’Auditori and Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in New York, Palais des Congrès in Strasbourg, Musikverein in Vienna, Shanghai Oriental Art Center and the Severance Hall in Cleveland.

Ms Filjak’s 2009-2010 season began with a first-place victory at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition. This win was followed by successful debuts at the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Vienna Musikverein. Her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in December 2009 received an excellent review from the New York Times praising her "resourcefulness of technique and naturalness of her musicality" and declaring her "a striking individuality and a pianist to watch". In October 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Medal by the President of the Republic of Croatia for her artistic achievements.

Ms Filjak's 2010-2011 season began with a series of performances, among them at the Berlin Konzerthaus, with the South-East Europe Youth Orchestra under the baton of Heinrich Schiff. Of her rendition of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung stated that "Martina Filjak's influence was so wakeful, so decisive, sovereign and full of contrasts... with such playing she has already left behind some perhaps more famous young pianists of her generation..." She continued the season with brilliant performances of the Ravel concerto with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Stefan Sanderling, the Schumann concerto with the Chile National Symphony Orchestra, the Grieg Piano concerto with the Granada Symphony Orchestra as well as Shostakovich's No. 1 with the Georgian Chamber Orchestra of Ingolstadt.

Upcoming performances include the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and Christoph Poppen, Staatskapelle Weimar and Stefan Solyom, the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the South Carolina Philharmonic, the Spokane Symphony, the Granada Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon as well as recitals at the Residenz in Munich and the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona .

In addition to being awarded the First Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Ms Filjak has won numerous competitions and prizes, including First Place at the 2007 International Viotti Piano Competition and the 2008 Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona.

Born in Zagreb and raised in a family of pianists, Ms Filjak is a graduate of the Music Academy of Zagreb and the Vienna Conservatory as well as of the soloist class of the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany in the class of Ms Mi-Kyung Kim. During the 2008-2009 season Ms Filjak attended the prestigious Como Piano Academy at Lake Como, Italy where she had the opportunity to work with several esteemed teachers and visiting artists, including William Grant Nabore, Dmitri Bashkirov, Boris Berman, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Andreas Staier and Fou Ts'ong. Her repertoire includes more than 30 piano concertos and a wide spectrum of chamber music and solo literature from 17th century to contemporary artists. Ms Filjak speaks 7 languages and is both a Croatian and Italian national.

For more information, please visit her personal website at www.martinafiljak.com.