The Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival is one of the very few festivals in the world of which Grigory Sokolov is a regular guest. One critic described the atmosphere of his most recent festival appearance in 2022 – which concluded with music by Johannes Brahms – as follows: “It was an immensely suggestive, almost mystical conclusion to the entire recital, and the audience needed time to let Brahms’s music resonate within them. Before long, however, the applause grew into a prolonged standing ovation.” Sokolov is capable of drawing from the piano an extraordinary spectrum of colours. The British newspaper The Guardian has called his recitals “visions of a lost age of Russian pianism,” emphasising “a wonderful ease about his playing, a security founded on an utterly dependable interpretation (…) founded upon total familiarity with the work.”

Sokolov’s concerts usually take place in subdued lighting, allowing him to concentrate fully and lending the occasion the character of a kind of mystical ritual. Before each performance he becomes acquainted with the piano in the finest detail, examining it almost like a scientist in a laboratory. In his view, every instrument possesses a soul, and the performer must come close to that soul if their partnership is to be truly fruitful. The result is an exceptional experience for listeners. At a certain point in his career, Sokolov withdrew both from chamber music and from performing with orchestras, dedicating himself exclusively to solo recitals. Each summer, he retreats from public life and works on a single new programme for the coming season. One can only look forward to discovering what magical experiences he will bring us this time!

Anna Vinnitskaya’s path to the international stage opened in 2007 with her victory at the renowned Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, where she became only the second woman in the history of the competition to win first prize. In concert, she captivates audiences with her flawless technique, irresistible energy and her ability to penetrate deeply into the inner world of the works she performs. “Her approach is poetically inflected without ever descending into slushiness,” wrote Gramophone. Yet passion is never lacking: “Vinnitskaya is a true lioness at the keyboard, devouring the most difficult pages of music with adamantine force,” observed The Washington Post. She collaborates with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Recent appearances include concerts with the Orchestre de Paris and Klaus Mäkelä, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Paavo Järvi, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Joana Mallwitz. When Petr Popelka assumed the post of Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 2022, he invited Anna Vinnitskaya to perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B-flat minor at his inaugural concert.

Her recordings, too, are highly acclaimed, earning some of the most prestigious distinctions, including the French Diapason d’Or and Editor’s Choice from the British magazine Gramophone. Her Chopin album was described by Fono Forum as “a recording for the lonely island.”. All the more enticing, then, is the invitation to her festival recital, where she will perform one of Chopin’s supreme masterpieces – the Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor. The programme will also feature Three Intermezzi by Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic Variations on a Theme of Corelli, and Piano Sonata No. 3 in the unusual key of F-sharp minor by the Russian mystic Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin.

He will celebrate only his twenty-fifth birthday this year, yet his name already appears in the programmes of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. “A young man comes on stage and plays the stars from the sky for you,” wrote the respected daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about the playing of the Vienna-born pianist Lukas Sternath.

When he won the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 2022, he caused a sensation, not only taking first prize but also receiving seven additional awards, including the Audience Prize. Since then, he has performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Vienna Philharmonic with Tugan Sokhiev and the Bamberg Symphony under Jakub Hrůša. He has made his debuts at the Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms. The Vienna Musikverein has entrusted him with curating his own concert series – for the first time in the history of this renowned institution.

At the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival, you will have the opportunity to hear this young artist for the first time in a solo recital. “My idea behind this programme was to combine my love for Franz Schubert’s music with Franz Liszt’s fascination and appreciation of Schubert’s works, linking the two through the poetic picture of the Wanderer,” says Lukas Sternath about the programme. It will feature Schubert’s Romantic Wanderer Fantasy, the second part of Liszt’s extensive cycle Years of Pilgrimage – which may be heard as a series of stylised musical impressions from Italy – and Liszt’s transcriptions of Schubert’s songs. “The Wanderer is filled with melancholy and desperation, always asking, doubting, constantly moving and searching for meaning on the journey we call life, all whilst being in resonance with nature. These are all topics I think every human being can relate to in a deeply personal way and I’m looking forward to experiencing this intimate musical journey together with the Prague audience,” says one of the most closely watched “rising stars” of today, Lukas Sternath, inviting us into his inner musical world.

Marek Kozák, recipient of the prestigious Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young Czech artists under the age of thirty in 2025, is renowned for his unfailing technique, rich palette of tone colours and deeply felt musicality. “He embodies precision, sincerity and a sensitive approach to interpretation,” wrote the music portal Operaplus.cz. He first attracted wider attention through successes in a number of international competitions. In 2015 he reached the semi-finals of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He is also a laureate of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the Bach Competition in Leipzig and the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich. He has performed with Czech and European orchestras including the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Highlights of his current season include a return to the Tonhalle Zurich, an appearance at the Czech Philharmonic’s Open-Air concert with the French conductor Alain Altinoglu, and a recital with the soprano Simona Šaturová as part of the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra season.

At the Rudolf Firkušný Piano Festival, he will present a programme of music from three centuries inspired by dance. He will begin by recalling his success at the Bach Competition in Leipzig with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita in B-flat major, a suite of Baroque dances including the allemande, sarabande, minuet and gigue. This will be followed by a selection from Smetana’s Czech Dances. The second half of the evening will belong to the waltz. Maurice Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales – inspired without doubt by the waltzes of Franz Schubert – combine a typically French elegance with melancholy and a touch of irony. One of Schubert’s waltzes will also be heard in a transcription by Franz Liszt, who included it among other dances in his cycle Soirées de Vienne. The recital will conclude with Liszt’s virtuoso Mephisto Waltz No. 1, in which Marek Kozák will display the full brilliance of his artistry. “The personality of Franz Liszt has fascinated me since my student years, and his Mephisto Waltz was for a long time one of my unfulfilled dreams,” the pianist confides. “Charming Bach, Smetana inspired by folk music, the soaring and poetic Ravel, the salon elegance of Schubert and the diabolical virtuosity of Liszt. Their dances tell stories – each different, each with its own inner world. I very much look forward to telling you all of them from the piano on the first Friday of November at the Rudolfinum,” the artist adds.