Martina Filjak, pianist
Biography
“It couldn't be better - her musicianship was enchanting. Everything is just right, from the tone, to the choice of tempos, the dynamics, her very fine pianistic technique and a great emotional musicality.”
Brilliant, sensitive and imaginative game with technical ingenuity and natural musicality ... remarkable individuality ... a pianist to keep an eye on.”
Croatian pianist Martina Filjak established herself internationally with her passionate, poetic playing and the brilliant technical mastery of her instrument. She captivates audiences and the press with her charismatic personality and magnetic stage presence.
She garnered international attention in 2009 by winning first prize and the Beethoven Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Prior to that she won first prizes at the Viotti International Piano Competition in Italy (2007) and the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona (2008) and was a prizewinner at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano. Since then, the artist has worked with renowned orchestras, particularly in the USA, Germany, Italy and Europe, and has played piano evenings in important concert halls. She has already been a guest at Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall New York, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Musikverein Vienna, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Sala Verdi and Auditorio in Milan, the Teatro San Carlo Naples, the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Ravinia Festival of Chicago and the Salle Gaveau Paris.
After her debut CD with sonatas by Antonio Soler and a chamber music recording with the cellists Jan Vogler and Christian Poltéra, which was released by Sony Classical in 2013, her second solo CD with works by Schumann, Bach / Liszt and Skrijabin was released in autumn 2016 at the label Solo Musica. On January 10, 2020 the new album "Light & Darkness" was released by the label Profil Edition Günter Hänssler.
During the 21- 22 season she performed alongside the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Francis, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Marcus Bosch, the Bilbao Symphony and Guenther Neuhold, the HRT Symphony and Pascal Rophe, the Liechtenstein Symphony under Sebastian Lang Lessing as well as the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and David Danzmayr.
The 22 – 23 and the 23 - 24 seasons included invitations to perform at the Mito Festival in Milan; the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; the Schleßwig Holstein Festival in Germany as well as collaborations with the Robert Schumann Philharmonie in Chemnitz, the Slovenian RTV Symphony in Ljubljana, the Staatsorchester Mainz as well as a much awaited debut at the Elbphilharmonie along Staatsorchester Hamburg led by Patrick Hahn. She toured South America, performing with the Ofunam Symphony in Mexico, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Chile as well as Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia.
The 24 – 25 season saw her perform along orchestras such as Staatskapelle Weimar, Orquestra Sinfonica da Casa da Musica Porto, Orquesta de Valencia, Cape Cod Symphony, The Pannon Philharmonic, The Asheville symphony as well as a reinvitation to Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock; along recitals at Casa da Musica in Porto and Palau de la Musica in Barcelona she performs at festivals such as the Ljubljana festival in Slovenia and the Wonderfeel festival in the Netherlands.
As a soloist Martina Filjak performed with the Symphony Orchestra of Aachen, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Bremen Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Staatskapelle Halle and the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock. Other orchestra engagements brought her to the Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, the The Florida Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, the Orchestra La Verdi Milano, the San Diego Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Barcelona, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Japan Century Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra as well as the Orchester Philharmonique de Strasbourg.
Additionally, Martina Filjak has worked with conductors such as Michael Schønwandt, Heinrich Schiff, JoAnn Falletta, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Marcus Bosch, Alexander Shelley, Hans Graf, Markus Poschner, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Carlos Miguel Preto, Ivan Repusic, Paul Goodwin and Pascal Rophe.
As a recepient of various awards in her native Croatia, Martina takes pride of being awarded the 'Vladimir Nazor' prize, the 'Milka Trnina prize' of the Croatian association of musical artists, 'Orlando' prize for her performance at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the 'Judita' prize for her performance of Dora Pejacevic's Piano concerto at the Split Festival. In 2009 she was honored by the President with the 'Red hrvatskog pletera' for the international achievements.
Her special passion for chamber music shows in the collaboration with top-class partners such as the Szymanowski Quartet, the Amaryllis Quartet, the Ensemble Berlin, as well as Daniel Hope, Radovan Vlatkovic, Felix Klieser, Monika Leskovar, Andrej Bielow, Julian Steckel and Eckart Runge.
Martina Filjak's large repertoire ranges from Bach to Berio and includes more than 30 piano concertos. In addition, she is committed to researching less well-known piano literature and various concert formats.
The artist divides her time between Berlin and Zagreb, loves to travel and speaks seven languages.
More information can be found at www.martinafiljak.com and www.facebook.com/martinafiljak.
At the request of the artist, please do not alter this biography without prior approval.
May 2025 – please destroy previously dated materials.