Pianist and composer Bruno Vlahek is one of the most prominent and versatile Croatian artists of the new generation. He was born 1986 in Zagreb where he received his first musical education at the age of 9. Only two years later, he won the first prize at the Pinerolo international competition for young pianists (Italy) and was an absolute winner of the Croatian national competitions held in Dubrovnik in 1999 and 2001.
He graduated piano from the class of Vladimir Krpan as one of the youngest students in history of the Zagreb Music Academy. Subsequently, he finished postgraduate studies at the Lausanne Conservatory with Jean-François Antonioli and at the Cologne University of Music where his teachers were Vassily Lobanov (piano), Tilmann Claus and Johannes Fritsch (composition and improvisation). From September 2010, he is continuing his piano studies with Dmitri Bashkirov at the Reina Sofia College of Music in Madrid.
In addition to his studies, he has attended masterclasses with Dmitri Bashkirov, Einar Steen-Nokleberg, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Ilja Scheps and other eminent pedagogues.
He is a 1st prize winner of the international piano competitions „Alexander Scriabin“ in Paris 2010 and „Ricard Viñes“ in Lleida 2008, a laureate of the EPTA-Svetislav Stancic Competition in Zagreb 2007 and winner of the Swiss prizes "Paderewski" and "Max D. Jost". In 2009 he became the finalist of the prestigeous Busoni Competition in Bolzano.
He performed in a concert venues such as Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Gasteig in Munich, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Moscow's Cremlin, Mozarteum Salzburg, Slovenian Philharmonic, Lisinski Hall in Zagreb and other European centres and music festivals (Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland). He appeared with orchestras such as Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Sinfonietta de Genève, Toruñ Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfônica del Vallés, I Solisti di Zagreb, HRT Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and others. His concert appearances were broadcasted on TV stations in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Russia and Spain, as well as on Radio Suisse Romande for which he recorded Saint-Saëns' 2nd Piano Concerto by with Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in 2008.
He has composed more than 30 orchestral, chamber, solo and choral works of various genres which are mostly characterized by neoclassical form and expression, often combined with idiom of jazz and popular music. His music has been performed in Croatian and European music centres (Berlin, Munich, Prague, Riga, Salzburg, Vienna, Split, Varaždin, Zagreb), at the contemporary music festivals in Pula and Belgrade, in the USA and at the ISCM’s World New Music Days 2010 in Sydney (Australia). In 2008 his Mass was premiered by the Choir and Symphony State Orchestra Zulia in Maracaibo (Venezuela). His works have been awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia in 2007 and 2010.
Copyright © 2010 Bruno Vlahek