VIENNA PIANO MASTERCLASS 2025
July 7-11, Vienna (Austria)
Join our Piano Masterclass from July 7 to July 11, 2025 in Vienna - the City of Music! The masterclass is aimed at students and professionals who want to get their piano playing to the next level. Our teachers are internationally renowned pianists and professors from Music Universities from all over Europe. The Masterclass will take place at the Musikquartier 1060 Vienna from Mon-Fri. On Friday, the participants have the possibilty to perform at Ehrbar Saal, Vienna (Vienna's second oldest concert hall, where Brahms, Bruckner, Schönberg, Reger, and Bartok have performed among others).
Those who wish can then participate in the International Vienna Piano Competition 2025 "Vienna Classic" on July 12/13
Submit your application now and be part of the Vienna Piano Summer Festival!
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PROFESSORS OF THE MASTERCLASS
Giuseppe Devastato (IT), Professor at the Music and Arts University Madrid - [full Bio]
Christiane Karajev (AT), Professor at the Music University of Vienna (MDW) - [full bio]
Aleksandar Madzar (SRB), Professor at Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg - [full bio]
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Iura Margulis (DE/RU), Professor at the Music and Arts University, Vienna - [full bio]
Amandine Savary (FR), Professor at the Music University of Vienna - [full bio]
Fact sheet
🎶 The Masterclass will take place from Mon, July 7 to Friday, July 11 at Musikquartier 1060, Mariahilferstraße 51, 1060 Vienna.
🎶 Around 25 people will be invited to participate.
🎶 Classes will take place between 9 am and 6 pm. The final schedule will be published after registration.
🎶 The Final Concert will take place at Ehrbar Saal, Viennas second oldest concert venue, on Friday evening.
🎶 Those who wish can also apply for the International Vienna Piano Competition 2025
🎶 The course fee is 650€ + 20% taxes and includes one private lesson every day (50 min) and the participation in the final concert.
🎶 All participants will have access to a video of their performance
🎶 All participants will receive free professional pictures of their performance (web size)
🎶 All participants will receive a certificate of attendance
🎶 The application deadline is January 31st, 2025
🎶 There's no application fee, only a course fee
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"I was so happy being accepted and I was not disappointed. I would recommend it to any pianist because I learned so much during these five days. The masterclass opened my eyes on so many things and I loved the environment/ambiance. This project was a success and the organizers deserve a big applause. It was a wonderful experience, thank you with all my heart."
"Everything was just perfect"
"What I liked most:
-The very professional and precise organization
-Making new friends
-The lessons with Amandine Savary were really inspiring and helpful
-Karajev's beautiful movie
-Playing in Ehrbar Saal"
APPLICATION
PROFESSORS OF THE MASTERCLASS
Giuseppe Devastato (IT) , Professor at the Music and Arts University Madrid
Giuseppe Devastato born in Naples, is a pianist and composer recognized by international critics as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation, completed his studies in Italy under Prof. Carlo Alessandro Lapegna (Piano) and Prof. Giacomo Vitale (Composition), his art has been crafted by renowned pianists such as Laura De Fusco, Francesco Nicolosi and Aldo Ciccolini.
Giuseppe Devastato has worked in the most important theaters in Europe America and Asia, such as the Manoel Theatre (Malta), Sala Villanueva (Mexico), León Auditorium (Spain), Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), Ravello Festival (Italy), Carnegie Hall of New York (USA), Ateneum Bucharest, National Philharmonic of Timisoara (Romania) National Auditorium of Kiev (Ukraine), National Philharmonic of Szczecin, Tarnow, Krakow and Bydgoszczy (Poland), Wuxi Gran Theater, Beijing Performing Art Center, Shanghai Symphony Hall (China), Scriabin Museum Big Concert Hall (Russia), National Auditorium of Tokyo.
Often invited to the Ravello International Festival, he performed the complete Sonatas and Variations for piano and cello of Beethoven and Brahms and has worked with many orchestras such as the IASI Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico, Kiev Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Chamber Orchestra, Accademia dell'Arco of Bydgoszcz and Saratoga Youth Spring Orchestra of New York. Giuseppe Devastato was awarded the "International Prize Cartagine 2011” to human merit and professional achievements in the "MUSIC" section, for the dissemination of music in general - and Italian music in particular - around the world, in virtue of the merits acquired as a pianist and composer, with the intention to spread the world of classical music: “His actions show high sensitivity and a deep love for life. His playing is intended to imitate the human voice and is inspired by the art of Bel Canto of the Neapolitan School”.
The debut at Carnegie Hall in New York as a pianist and composer, May 30th, 2014 was greeted with a standing ovation, on this occasion he presented the "Sembazuru Fantasy" (dedicated to Tsunami Victims) for Violin, Piano and Orchestra. On December 15th, 2015 he won two international awards to Global Music Awards in Los Angeles - USA, Gold Medal “Toccata” composition, and Gold Medal “The Pianist Composer” album. His albums are published by Warner Chappel Music, CAM, Da Vinci Classics where they have received awards and reviews in the most important music magazines, and his albums are regularly broadcast by the most important classic radios in Europe and America.
A distinguished teacher, he is currently invited to give master classes, lecture and seminaries all over the world in Europe, America and Asia, among the most important: in China (Lanzhou University, China Conservatories and Academies), Romania (Liceul de Arte Ion Vidu” Timișoara, Liceul de Arte ”Marin Sorescu” Craiova), Lithuania (Vilnius Naujoji Vilnia Music School), Poland (Academy of Art Szczecin), Italy (Faculty of Music Talent Master Courses of Brescia), Spain (Faculty of Music UAX, Musical Arts, Conservatories) UK (Purcell School), Belgium (Centre Musical Eduardo del Pueyo Brussels), Netherlands (Fontys Conservatory Music and Performing Arts), Germany (Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln), (USA (University of Missouri – St. Louis).
Having much experience in teaching, was appointed President of WPTA SPAIN (World Piano Teacher Association Spain) and written a book "The Science of Piano Technique" based on the technical and musical criteria of the Neapolitan School of S. Thalberg, adding his own modern vision after recovering from dystonia on his own. His compositions are performed regularly in Europe, America and Asia, performed by great performers and published by Universal Edition. He is the Artistic Director of the International Piano Competition "The Neapolitan Masters" in Naples (Italy), "Mimas Music Festival" in Procida Island (Italy) and WPTA Spain IPC (Spain), he is President and Artistic Director of International Balkan Piano Academy.
He is Professor at Musical Arts Conservatory of Madrid (Spain), at the Accademia Musicale Europea in Naples (Italy), and guest professor at the Talent Music Masters Academy in Brescia (Italy), at the International Summer Academy EuroArtsAcademy (Germany). In the last years many of his students won more than 50 prizes (first and second) at international piano competitions, members of Alink-Argerich, Newcastle YPN (2014), S.Thalberg (2015), Cesar Franck (2017), Composers of Spain (2017), Maria Herrero (2017), Riga International Piano Competition (2017), Windsor International Piano Competition (2018), 9th International F. Liszt Piano Competition Weimar – Bayreuth (2018), Piano Campus (2023), Jurica Murai “Gran Prix” (2024).
His students’ achievements have included places and scholarships to study in important music Institutions (Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music of London, National Academy of Santa Cecilia of Rome), Mozarteum University - University of Music of Salzburg) and established successful careers as recording artists. He is often invited as jury member in many international piano competitions worldwide.
Christiane Karajev (AT), Professor at the Music University of Vienna (MDW).
60 years at the piano - 40 years of teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Christiane Karajeva completed her studies at the Vienna Academy of Music and at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.
Her most important teachers included Richard Hauser, Dieter Weber, Lev Naumov and Wilhelm Kempf. At the age of seventeen, she was the youngest prizewinner at the International Beethoven Competition. She performed mainly as a soloist in the most important concert halls in Vienna and traveled to Central Europe, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Middle East.
As the pianist of the Beethoven Trio Vienna, she performed successfully with the ensemble in Europe, the USA and Japan until 1999. Numerous CDs have been recorded under the Camerata label.
She regularly leads masterclasses in Austria, Korea and Japan and has worked as a mobile teacher in the international Erasmus program, including in Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Canada.
In 2017, she held master classes and solo recitals in Iran for the first time.
Her first solo CD with works by Scriabin and Schubert was released by Gramola in 2017, followed by another CD in 2020 with works by Berg, Medtner, Janacek and Schubert.
Alexandar Madzar (SRB), Professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels and the Hochschule für Musik, Hamburg
Aleksandar Madžar was born in Belgrade in 1968. He started playing the piano with Gordana Malinovic at the age of six, and later studied with Arbo Valdma, Elisso Virsaladze, and Daniel Blumenthal in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Moscow, and Brussels.
He won prizes at the Geneva, Leeds, Ferrucio Busoni, and Umberto Micheli International Piano competitions, and made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Iván Fischer in 1990. Since then, he has performed regularly throughout Europe, enjoying a rich and varied career giving solo and chamber music recitals, as well as performing concertos with conductors André Previn, Marcello Viotti, Paavo Järvi, and Andris Nelsons.
On occasion, he tours North and South America, South Africa, the Far East, and Australia. Aleksandar Madžar is a frequent guest of Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His regular chamber music partners include the Takács Quartet, Anthony Marwood, Vilde Frang and the soprano Juliane Banse. He teaches at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Brussels, and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.
Iura Margulis (DE/RU), Professor at the Music and Arts University Vienna - [full bio]
Concert pianist, recording artist, master teacher, lecturer, and author Jura Margulis has been internationally
recognized for his compellingly communicative and emotionally charged performances, for the range of his
expressive tonal palette and his consummate transcendental virtuosity, as well as for his innovative approach
to specialized pedagogy, piano construction, repertoire, technology and pianistic tradition. Reviewers have
praised the "absolute authority" of his interpretations and the sense of "controlled obsession" he transmits
at the keyboard (Fono Forum). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that his aesthetic is both "impulsive
and contemplative." The Los Angeles Times praised his "excellent pianism" and called him "highly musical:”.
The Washington Post applauded his "titanic reserves of sheer power" and his "effortless spontaneity.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram called his performance "… the perfect Beethoven for the audience of our time
… sweeping lyricism … imagination, originality, and good taste pervaded every phrase." Drehpunkt Kultur,
Salzburg stated: "After the performance one fleetingly thinks of the pianists that became legends, but
comparisons are impermissible. Margulis is a master sui generis (of his own kind)."
His orchestral appearances include performances with the Russian National Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, the Südwestrundfunk Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Venezuela, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. He has played in numerous festivals, including the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Berliner Festwochen at Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Verbier, the Lugano, and the Sommets du Classique Festivals in Switzerland, the Argerich-Beppu Music Festival in Japan, the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg, and the Salzburger Festspiele in Austria. In his younger years Margulis was a laureate in more than a dozen national and international competitions, including Busoni in Italy and Guardian in Ireland. He was also a recipient of the DAAD scholarship and the esteemed Pro Europa prize awarded by the European Foundation for Culture.
AcXve as a chamber musician, Margulis is a founding member of the Margulis Piano Trio and performed with, among many others, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Lilya ZIlberstein, Alissa and Natalia Margulis, Alexander Buzlov, Mark Baranov, Arnold Bezuyen, the soloists of the Moscow Virtuosi, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Moscow String Quartet. He also concerXzed with Martha Argerich on one and two pianos in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and the USA. Their next performance is schedule for 2024.
In the last decade (COVID years;-) he performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Dallas, CincinnaX, Salt Lake City, Liale Rock, Tulsa, Carmel, AusXn, Phoenix, San Jose, Minneapolis, Memphis, and New Orleans, as well as to Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Elmau, Berlin, Bologna, Bruxelles, Bayreuth, Budapest, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Paris, Cape Town, Madrid, Yerevan, Warsaw, Aix-en-Provence, Almaty, Ankara, Lugano, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Sapporo, Seoul, Shenzhen, Salzburg, Vienna, Moscow,
St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, and Tallin.
Margulis has recorded ten CDs for Sony, Ars Musici, Oehms Classics, Naxos, and is featured on BMG, AvanX, and Steinway Classics, covering a wide spectrum of repertoire. These recordings have atrracted significant attention, including selection as a „reference recording" by Fono Forum, and inclusion on the "Bestenliste" of the Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Recording Review). His CD featuring piano transcriptions of music from Bach to Caplet (2007), received 10 out of 10 for "artistic quality" from KlassikHeute. The accompanying review stated: "not since Horowitz’s old RCA recording have I encountered a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre that so grippingly leaps from the stage, as here in Jura Margulis’ own transcription." The review also noted that Margulis’ own transcription of a little-known piece by André Caplet "should, like Ravel’s own transcription of his La Valse, claim a place in the repertoire of young pianists."
Klassik.com, also giving the CD its highest rating, raved that Margulis "cannot be praised enough." Margulis’ Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Berg solo CD was released in fall of 2009; All Music Guide wrote: "This CD is one of the best played, best interpreted, best programmed recitals of piano music of the year". In 2011 Margulis released a CD with the complete Liszt violin and piano duo repertoire with his sister Alissa Margulis.
In 2012 a CD with Schumann’s Dichterliebe in original version and Berg’s Seven Early Songs with tenor Arnold Bezuyen was released.
In 2013 he created the Margulis Sordino Pedal with Steingraeber & Sons, www.MSP.com announces: "The Margulis Sordino Pedal is a quantum leap for the dynamic (volume) and spectral (color) expressive palette of the modern concert grand piano." In 2014 Margulis released an all Schubert con Sordino CD on a MSP Steingraeber D-232 prototype. Fono Forum writes: "Margulis plays (Schubert) with an enthusiasm, a
sensitivity, and a creative imagination that are near incomparable." By now dozens of MSP Grand Pianos are distributed throughout institutions and concert venues worldwide. In 2015 his latest CD was released with all original transcriptions of music form Bach to Shostakovich on the MSP Steingraeber D-232 including a piano duo with Martha Argerich of Night on Bald Mountain by M. Mussorgsky, also in Margulis’ original
transcription - "… astonishing …" Piano News; "… demonic … a brilliant achievement ... " Pianiste. He is the author of (originally an online platform “The Call Project” in 1996-2008) "Pianist To Pianist” (PtoP in 2010), a collection of thoughts, observations, research, methodology, rules, exceptions, concerns, considerations, and secrets … and published it by its eponymous title in print media in 2020 by EmanoMedia, Switzerland.
Jura Margulis’s father and grandfather were significant pianists and pedagogues and methodical piano pedagogy is an integral part of his arXsXc vision. He holds master classes in the USA, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Armenia, Israel, Korea, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. Born in Leningrad / St. Petersburg, UDSSR, Jura Margulis was raised in West Germany, where he studied with his father, Vitaly Margulis of Kharkiv, at the MusikHochschule Freiburg. He was also a
student at the prestigious Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Cadenabbia at Lake Como in Italy. In 1994 he moved to the United States to study with maestro Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and made the US his home. A university professor by 30, Margulis in 2008 became the inaugural holder of the Emily J. McAllister Endowed Professorship in Piano at the J.W. Fulbright College of the University of AR State. In 2018 Jura Margulis returned to Europe following an appointment as full professor of piano and
member of the Center of Science and Research at the Music and Art University in Vienna, Austria, where he resides.
Amandine Savary (FR), Professor at the Music University of Vienna
First Prize winner of the Osaka Chamber Music Competition, Frankfurt Commerzbank Piano Trio Competition, Second Prize winner of the YCA in NY and Third Prize, audience Prize and special Prize of the Vienna Chamber Music Competition, Amandine Savary has performed in Europe as well as Japan, USA and Australia, establishing a substantial reputation as an accomplished and versatile pianist and chamber musician.
Amandine is a Laureate of Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire, Tillett Trust, Kirckman Concert Society, Philip and Dorothy Green Award and Park Lane Group, Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, Hattori Foundation and the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
Amandine’s passion for chamber music is reflected in numerous recordings and awards for these recordings include the prestigious Diapason d’or, Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice, Telerama FFFF, amongst many others. On top of her concert activity, she is regularly invited as teacher for academies and jury of international music competitions.
She was piano and chamber music teacher at the Royal Academy of Music in London until 2021 and became Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. Since October 2021, she teaches at the Beethoven Institute of the Wien MDW.
