| Participants: • Senior students of secondary music schools • Piano students • Exceptionally gifted younger participants (with recommendation and prior audition) Program description: • Each participant receives 4 hours of individual instruction (60 minutes each). • Minimum number of participants: 5; maximum: 8. • The workshop lasts 6 days. Day 1: Arrival, registration, lecture on piano interpretation, introduction to the venue (possible short group excursion). Days 2–4: Daily individual lessons (1 hour per day). Participants are provided with practice space and an instrument for several hours of practice according to a schedule. Day 5: Preparation and participants’ concert. Day 6: Departure. |
Biography:
| Lovro Pogorelić (1970–) is a Croatian pianist of international reputation and a full professor at the Music Academy in Zagreb. He is the younger brother of the renowned Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelić. He received his first musical instruction from his father Ivan, an academically trained musician. At the age of twelve, he began working with the Russian pianist and pedagogue Konstantin Bogino and gave his first recital the following year. He has been regularly performing in concerts since 1987, worldwide, both as a soloist and with orchestras. He graduated in piano in 1992 from the Music Academy in Zagreb in the class of Prof. Zvjezdana Bašić. From 1993, he pursued further studies in Paris under the patronage of the Crédit National Foundation, where, alongside numerous concerts, he recorded a CD with music by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky and Scriabin. Particularly notable are Pogorelić’s recital series in Japan (Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo), two tours in China, as well as a tour with Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian Philharmonic. He has also performed in France, Canada, the United States, South America, Scandinavia, Russia, and throughout Europe. He has released acclaimed albums for the French labels Intrada and Lyrinx, as well as the German label Denon. He is the recipient of the “Milka Trnina” Award. He is the founder and artistic director of the artistic festival on the island of Pag, the Pag Art Festival. Critics on Lovro Pogorelić: “Lovro Pogorelić’s style is precise and well-trained…” G. Norris, The Daily Telegraph, London, 1988. “Here is a unique artist who will undoubtedly divide opinions. Debatable for some. Fascinating for others. Interesting, in any case…” A. Busser, Nice-Matin, 1992. “A piano talent in the category of the greats… He is brilliant in his playing without unnecessary embellishment, not trying to seduce anyone, doing everything to enter the soul of each tone and give it its full value. There is no superficiality or easy solutions in his performance; everything is presented clearly and powerfully…” P. Woetmann, Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen, 1993. “It seems that Pogorelić persistently keeps climbing upward… It is an unusual and moving experience to encounter such a great artist.” J. Jacoby, Politiken, Copenhagen, 2000. “The Croatian piano lion… Pogorelić is a pianist with a capital P. His technique is superior and his power bear-like… In Pictures at an Exhibition he renders contrasts so vividly and forcefully that we can almost touch the children in the Tuileries, feel the assault of Bydło, experience the orgy of colors in Limoges, hear the roar in the Catacombs, while the Great Gate of Kyiv became larger and more powerful than we have ever heard before. Did anyone miss Ravel’s orchestration? No, Pogorelić’s interpretation is sufficient… Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata remains true to itself in all three movements… In the third, he completely mastered the restless tempo, playing powerfully but with feeling, leaving everyone breathless. It was overwhelming!” H. Krarup, Dagblader, Denmark, 2003. “Pianist Lovro Pogorelić has found how to invest in the inevitability of Slavic music with a strong, sumptuous personal style… The concert veteran played to a packed audience…” C. Porter, Washington Post, 2003. “It is clear that this is a pianist of certain reputation with admirable musical arguments…” J. Hamada, The Record Geijutsu Disc Review, Japan, 2006. “In this masculine perspective, the Sonata in B minor dawns more convincingly than recent mannerisms from the Far East. Likewise, the Vallée d’Obermann does not wallow in sublimity but presents powerful things in a dark way…” O. Bellamy, Le monde de la musique, Paris, 2006. “In Pictures at an Exhibition, Lovro Pogorelić tries less to seduce the listener than to guide them. From this absence of coercion, is he not more faithful to the score? Undoubtedly, because his well-placed and measured expressiveness, his vivid harmonic intelligence (Catacombs), his sense of emotion and inclination toward intimacy (The Old Castle) captivate. Little noise and many finely polished colors, almost without our knowing, through the evocation of an orchestra…” F. Langlois, Le monde de la musique, 2009. “The main part of the concert, however, consisted of Liszt’s Transcendental Études… There is no doubt that such works require pianists of colossal technique and the ability to connect everything. Pogorelić fully mastered this. And while we enjoyed such a rare opportunity to gain a unique introduction to one of the most famous works of piano literature, we could not avoid the expression ‘piano lion.’ This was not strange at all, since even dictionaries describe a ‘piano lion’ as ‘a virtuosic pianist who plays powerfully.’” Clauss Røllum-Larsen, Roskilde Avis, Denmark, 2021. |