New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Adam Gyorgy Official Website) Adam Gyorgy returns to the US to perform a unique new program. The first half of the program called "A Day in New York" is improvisations by Gyorgy. As he says, he would like to introduce the New York audience with his own themes: "the way I wake up, start my day, what I feel walking on the streets of New York, walking in Central Park, meeting different people in New York, and of course respecting my Hungarian origin. I will combine old Hungarian folk tunes and traditional elements into these improvisations.
The second half of the program will be what he is traditionally very well-known and loved for: (Liszt) and performs Franz Liszt: Sonata in b minor.
Gyorgy explains "The most difficult piano piece of the literature, technically and emotionally challenging which takes the audience to a long journey for another 30 minutes. After introducing my day in the first half, this gorgeous and virtuoso piece takes the audience for a long journey, thinking about an entire life with birth and death and a breathtaking finish.
Over the course of a decade, 30 year old Gyorgy saw the reputation of his concerts in South East Asia, the US, and Canada spread by word of mouth. At age 20, while completing his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of
Music in Budapest, he headed off to South East Asia where he later played sold out concerts at the Esplanade in Singapore and at venues in China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Success in South East Asia came alongside a string of awards early on in his career. In 2003 Gyorgy won the special prize at the Sanremo International Piano Competition, and in 2004 he won first prize, grand prize and special prize at the first International Chopin Piano Competition in Budapest. Gyorgy is certainly a beguiling musician; his performance style strips away any extraneous gestures: there's no thumping of the keys, or over dramatized arm movements.
His presentation favors simplicity and relentless consistency. 'It's having sharp ears and an understanding of sound projection, exercising control and playing with a warm heart and a cold head,' he says. 'For me music starts when words end; every single note has so much information and you really can get anything and everything behind the music in a heartbeat.' Furthermore, he enjoys connecting with his audience, whether to a crowd of 200 or 2000. 'You have to believe in what you are doing, in your message, and then the music will lure people in,' he continues. 'If what you are doing is honest and good, then people start to enjoy it and step by step you drive everyone into the ambience.' On stage, his concerts are backed by enormous film projections. His mode of engaging with new audiences might be dynamic yet in all other respects Gyorgy treads a hard line: 'I come from a traditional European piano school, which is basically a fascinating mixture of the Russian technical piano school and the Western European French and German detailed musical piano school. I play in the most European classical way, never forcing the piano but aiming to get the most out of it.' His program leans towards Liszt: at recent appearances Gyorgy played Sonata in B Minor, Rigoletto Paraphrase, La Campanella, and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as well as Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op 23. 'It's a program which seems to be successful,' he says. 'I think the Chopin piece is a perfect communication tool between the artist and the crowd. It is one of the pieces which help us to revisit our memories from childhood, and define ourselves. If you look at it another way: what does that piece do between the Liszt piece and the sonata? Well it does help you to go on a beautiful journey, and go where I want you to go with my concert.'
Gyorgy doesn't believe in scheduling an intermission: 'I believe that the spirit of a concert has to go from the beginning to the end,' he says. 'We all like to be kept in the moment, and it always works. Just as it did at Carnegie Hall through 90 minutes.' Though he will adapt his program to fit different continents, and plans to expand his European engagements, he says: 'I always choose to play repertoire I am in love with, and what I think the public will like as well.
'The most important thing for me,' he adds, 'is to be faithful to myself by playing sensitive improvisations at the beginning of the concerts to connect with my audience, and then to play my favorite virtuoso classical repertoire.
