Lukas Sternath

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.