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The the brilliant and internationally praised Hungarian cellist, Miklós Perényi, was born in 1948 into a musical family. began cello lessons at the age of 5 with Miklós Zsámboki, a student of David Popper. From early childhood he excelled and at the age of 7 his exceptioal talent was recognised and he was admitted to the violincello department at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Musec in Budapest where he studied under Professor Ede Banda. At the age of 9, he gave his first concert in Budapest and went on to study between 1960 and 1964 in several master-classes with Enrico Mainardi in Rome. Further studies at the Accademia Santa Cecilia brought him a degree in 1962 and the following year (1963) he was a prize winner at the Casals International Violoncello Competition in Budapest. In 1963 he became a prize-winner at the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition in Budapest. Pablo Casals invited him to his master-classes in Zermatt and Puerto Rico in 1965 and 1966, and this was followed by invitations to perform at Marlboro Festival for four consecutive years..
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.
The academic life has permitted Miklós Perényi to futher develop as a performer. He is recognised as one of the great cellists of his generation, with a distinctive, subtly nuanced sound matched by extraordinary musicality. He 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, as well as in the USA, where, most recently, he performed at the Carnegie Hall in their Centenary Jubilee series.
With a repertoire ranging from the 17th century to the present, Miklós Perényi 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. He has played regularly with a number of distinguished musicians in acclaimed sonata and chamber music concerts. These include Zoltán Kocsis, Dezso Ránki, the Takács and the Keller Quartet. 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 2010-2011 season include recitals and chamber concerts at the Salzburg Festival, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, and in Amsterdam, Luxembourg, London, Tokyo and Budapest. Miklós Perényi will also give the world premiere of Péter Eötvös’ cello concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker and his other orchestral engagements include the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Manchester Camerata and the Budapest Festival Orchestra at New York’s Lincoln Center.
Miklós Perényi’s numerous recordings include releases for Hungaroton, EMI, Quint, Sony Classical, Teldec, Decca, col legno, Erato, and Metropolitan Video labels. 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 J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten and Johannes Brahms was released on Wigmore Hall’s own label. |
