Miklós Perényi
Cello
Miklós Perényi is recognized as one of the
great cellists of his generation, with a distinctive, subtly nuance sound
matched by extraordinary musicality.
Born in Hungary, he began cello lessons at the age of five with Miklós
Zsámboki, a student of David Popper. At the age of nine, he gave his first
concert in Budapest and went on to study between 1960 and 1964 with Enrico
Mainardi in Rome and, in Budapest, with Ede Banda. In 1963 he became a
prizewinner at the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in Budapest.
Casals invited him to his master classes in Puerto Rico in 1965 and 1966, and he
went on to become a frequent visitor to the Marlboro Festival.
In 1974, Miklós Perényi joined the faculty at the Franz Liszt
Academy in Budapest, where he has held a professorship since 1980. He was
honoured with the Kossuth-Prize in 1980 and the Bartók-Pásztory-Prize in 1987.
Perényi has appeared in the world’s major musical centres,
performing regularly around Europe, in Japan and China and in North and South
America. His festival engagements have included Edinburgh, Lucerne, Prague,
Salzburg, Vienna, Hohenems, Warsaw, Berlin, Kronberg, and the Pablo Casals
Festival in Prades in France. With a repertoire ranging from the 17th
century to the present, he appears as a soloist with orchestra, in solo
and duo recitals and in chamber ensembles. Beyond performing and teaching, he
also devotes his energies to composition of works for solo cello and for
instrumental ensembles of various sizes.
Among his closest colleagues is the pianist András Schiff, with whom
he has appeared at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Edinburgh Festival and
the Ruhr Festival. Recently, the duo played at Cologne’s Philharmonie, the
Schwetzingen Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall and the 92nd Street in New York.
Highlights of the 2011/2012 season included orchestra and chamber
concerts at Tonhalle Zurich, Konzerthaus Vienna, in Salzburg, Barcelona, Munich,
Basel, Brugge and Budapest. Perenyi performed, among other works, Péter Eötvös'
Cello Concerto, which he premiered in the previous season with the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra. Miklós Perényi’s numerous recordings include
releases for Hungaroton, EMI, Sony Classical, Teldec, Decca, col legno and
Erato. Among the prizes for his ECM release of Beethoven’s complete works for
cello and piano, with András Schiff, was the Cannes Classical Award 2005. In
2009 a live recording of a recital with Dénes Várjon of works by Bach, Britten
and Brahms was released on Wigmore Hall’s own label.
His new solo recording with works of Britten,
Bach and Ligeti has just been released by ECM.
August 2012