Milan Paľa - violin
Slovak violinist and violist. During his studies at the Ján Levoslav Bella Conservatory in Banská Bystrica, at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, Milan Paľa won numerous awards and attracted international attention in European competitions. At that time he also took international master classes in Zurich (with Vladimir Spivakov and Jean Guillou) and, in a private class with Semyon Yaroshevich, became acquainted with the legendary Russian school of David Oistrakh. A violinist who is also a virtuoso of the viola, Milan Paľa is in demand for first performances of new works, and he has premiered a large number by such composers as J. Guillou, E. Irshai, F. G. Emmert, M. Lejava, Ch. Sirodeau, E.-S. Tüür, Á. Kondor, I. Josip Skender, A. Knešaurek, A. Demoč, T. Kõrvits, D. Matej, L. Sierova and W. Bauer. In recent years he has performed for audiences at several prestigious events showcasing new music as the ISCM World New Music Days 2013, the 29th Music Biennale Zagreb (2017), Arcus Temporum, the Melos-Ethos International Festival of Contemporary Music and the Hradec Králové Music Forum. His career as a soloist has led him to cooperation with conductors such as T. Guschlbauer, H. Arman, A. Cernusenko, L. Svárovský, A. S. Weiser, P. Gribanov, J. Hrůša, O. Lenárd and M. Lejava. For his active working he received multiple awards, including the Prize of the Minister of Culture of the Ľudovít Rajter Prize (2009), Tatra banka Foundation Prize (2014), the Slovak Republic (2014), and the Frico Kafenda Prize (2015). Milan Paľa’s continuously expanding discography contains many works of the world’s violin repertoire. With pianist Ladislav Fanzowitz, he is committed to recording (2017) features Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 134, and Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147. A result of the inspiring cooperation of many years between Milan Paľa and the conductor and composer Marián Lejava is their critically acclaimed recording of violin concertos by Alban Berg and Karol Szymanowski with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. The recording, which received the Radio Head Award in 2016. A new, unique instrument – a five-string violin – occupies a special place in Milan Paľa’s creative output. Dubbed “milanolo”, it is a concert instrument that brings a lower, viola register to the violin, and is the first of its kind.