Dénes Várjon

Dénes Várjon’s sensational technique, profound musicianship, and wide range of interests have made him one of the most thrilling and highly regarded pianists on the international music scene. Várjon is a universal musician: an excellent soloist, a first-class chamber musician, an artistic director of music festivals, and a highly sought-after piano pedagogue.
Widely acknowledged as a preeminent chamber musician, Várjon works on a regular with illustrious partners such as Steven Isserlis, Antje Weithaas, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi, and Joshua Bell. As a soloist, he is a welcome guest at major concert series, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Vienna’s Konzerthaus and London’s Wigmore Hall.
He is frequently invited to work with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras: Budapest, Zurich, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Russian National Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, collaborating with eminent conductors, including Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Heinz Holliger, Horst Stein, Leopold Hager, and Zoltán Kocsis. He appears on a regular basis at leading international festivals from Marlboro to Salzburg and Edinburgh.
Dénes Varjón has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio, ECM, PAN-Classics (CH) and Hungaroton labels with critical acclaim. In 2015 he recorded the Schumann piano concerto with the WDR Symphonieorchester and Heinz Holliger, and all five Beethoven piano concertos with Concerto Budapest and András Keller.
In 1991, Dénes Várjon graduated from the Franz Liszt Music Academy Budapest, where his professors included Sándor Falvai, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. In parallel with his studies, he participated as actively in international master classes imparted by András Schiff.
Dénes Várjon won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio, at the Leó Weiner Chamber Music Competition in Budapest, and at the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich. He is a recipient of the Liszt Prize, the Sándor Veress Prize, and the Bartók-Pásztory Prize. In 2020 he received Hungary’s foremost award in the area of culture, the Kossuth Prize. Mr. Várjon works also for Henle Urtext Editions.