Jakub  Cizmarovic

 

was born in Slovakia in 1985 into a family of musicians and lives in Cologne today. At the age of nine he discovered his passion for the piano and immediately embarked on a breathtaking progress on his instrument, accompanied by considerable successes at various competitions. He was a finalist of the ”Steinway-Competition in Berlin as well as of the international piano competition “Carl Czerny” in Prague. Already in 1999 he won the 1st Prize at the federal “Jugend musiziert” competition as well as the 1st Prize of the “Grotrian-Steinweg-Competition” in Braunschweig, at which he was – as the first participant ever – presented with the “Karl-Heinz Kämmerling” Special Award. The highlight amongst these accomplishments so far consists in the 1st Prize in the category piano and the Grand Prix of the overall competition “International Music Festa Ueda” organised by the Nagano International Music Festa Japan in 2001.

 

In 2005 Jakub Cizmarovic won the 1st Prize of the international piano competition ”5. Premio Internazionale di interpretazione pianistica Giuliano Pecar”. In 2012 he won third prize and audience prize at the International Piano Competition “Città di Pinerolo”

 

A year later he was granted the award for most promising young artist of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

 

Jakub Cizmarovic received his first piano lessons from his mother. Thereafter he became a pupil of Prof. Kämmerling in Hannover. Since 2001 he studies with Prof. Gililov. As of 2003, he furthers his studies at Gililov’s master class at the Cologne University of Music where he graduated in 2012. At the moment he is a postgraduate student at the Mozearteum University Salzburg under Prof. Jacques Rouvier. Frequent participations at master classes, such as with Lazar Berman or Dmitri Bashkirov, present an essential artistic enrichment for Jakub Cizmarovic.

 

At the age of sixteen, Jakub Cizmarovic made his début at the Kölner Philharmonie playing Chopin’s first piano concerto with the Gürzenich Orchestra Köln under the baton of James Conlon. Jakub Cizmarovic reunited with the Gürzenich Orchestra in 2005 and 2008 conducted by musical director Markus Stenz. A public performance at the Festival “Best of NRW” followed in 2002. The same year, he débuted as youngest artist at the Ruhr Piano Festival, where he enthused his audience and critics alike. Following this success, in 2004 he was invited once more to the Ruhr Piano Festival to play two piano concertos with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under the musical direction of Helmut Müler-Brühl. This was intended as opening to the complete Mozart cycle of the festival. He gave a number of guest performances with recitals, amongst them in the Essen Philharmonics, at the Music Festival Biarritz in France and the dutch Orpheo Festival. Jakub Cizmarovic continues to give concerts in Germany, Slovakia and numerous other European countries. With the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra Jakub Cizmarovic returned to the Kölner Philharmonie twice, in 2003 and 2006. In 2004, he was invited as soloist of the Korean Symphony Orchestra on a tour to South Korea. Shortly after he played with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock under the baton of David Geringas.

 

His début in the United States at the famous Ravinia Festival was much acclaimed. In addition two Mozart piano concertos accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducted by James Conlon, Jakub Cizmarovic also played a solo performance enthusiastically received by the audience. The collaboration with James Conlon continued in May 2007, when Jakub Cizmarovic played with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

In 2007 Jakub Cizmarovic performed both piano concertos by Johannes Brahms several times, amongst others with the Staatskapelle Halle as a guest performance at the Konzerthaus zu Berlin. On tour with the Philharmonique de Liège, he played Prokofiev’s 2nd piano concerto in March 2008.

 

The highlights in 2009 marks concerts with the Korean Chamber Orchestra and a tour through China, with more than 20 performances. In December 2009 he appeared as a soloist at the Bratislava Music Festival with Gershwin's piano concerto in F accomanied by the WDR Radioorchestra Cologne. In 2010 he appeared he had concerts on the festival "Classic young stars" in Hamburg and Berlin. He also returned to South Korea to perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Hwan Orchestra.

 

A live recording with the works of Prokofiev has been released in France. Jakub Cizmarovic’s recording of works by Schumann and Liszt appeared in October 2004 on the "BMG Arte Nova Classics" Label, receiving the highest rating of the journal “FONO FORUM” in the field of interpretation. As a contribution to the Mozart-year 2006, Jakub Cizmarovic played three of the master’s concertos in Slovakia. ( "Diskant" Label )