Marian Lapšanský

Having completed his studies at the AMU Academy of Music in Prague, Lapšanský has been living in Prague and Bratislava. During the period of 1976 – 1979, he was a soloist of the Košice State Philharmonic, later until 1992 a soloist of the Slovak Philharmonic. Apart from working with Slovak and Czech orchestras, he has guest-appeared with numerous foreign ensembles (Wiener Kammerorchestra, Hungarian State Philharmonic, MÁV Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Vilmos Tátrai Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Strings, George Enescu Philharmonic, Bucarest, Cluj State Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, Dresdner Staatskapelle, Leipzig Great Symphony Orchestra, Great Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Berliner Symphonie Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Havana National Philharmonic, North Bay Symphony Orchestra Canada, Praetoria National Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg National Philharmonic, etc.). As a soloist, he has collaborated with over twenty chamber ensembles in Slovakia and abroad. He gave concerts several times in all European countries, as well as in South Africa, Cuba, Canada, USA, Mexico and Japan.

Apart from his soloist activities, chamber music represents also an important part of his career and includes various partnerships with instrumentalists and vocalists (among others with Gabriela Beňačková, Peter Dvorský, Magdaléna Hajóssyová, Sergej Kopčák, Jelena Obrazcovová, Dagmar Pecková, Peter Schreier). In the area of piano duo (four-hand or two pianos), he has been continually cooperating with Peter Toperczer since 1983, while appearing also with Zuzana Paulechová and Eugen Indjić.

Lapšanský has been regularly invited to all prominent Slovak and Czech festivals, appearing also in foremost international events (Wiener Festwochen, Salzburger Festspiele, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Days, Berliner Festspiele, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Echternach International Festival, Festival de Saint Lizier, Budapest Music Weeks, Katya Popova Festival in Pleven, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Sofia Music Weeks, Festival de Musica de Canaries, Swansea Festival, Cardiff Music Festival, Ankara International Music Festival and many others). His recordings have also received numerous awards: 1985 – State Prize for performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s pieces and for representing Czechoslovak concert art abroad; 1987 –OPUS Golden Crest for recordings of Johannes Brahms’ sonatas; 1995 – Golden Harmony for a CD with recordings of pieces by Rachmaninov, Schnittke, Pärt, together with cellist Jiří Bárta; 1997 – „Classic“ awarded to the recording of the year (collection of cycles by Zdeněk Fibich Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences– 12 CD; 1998 – Daliborka – Best 1998 Recording (Leoš Janáček: The Diary of One Who Disappeared together with Peter Straka and Dagmar Pecková, and Piano Sonata in e flat minor); 2002 – highly acclaimed Gustav Mahler Prize, awarded by the European Union of Arts.

Apart from his concert giving and teaching activities, Lapšanský has been also actively involved in preparation and organising of various events. In 1990, he founded the Johann Nepomuk Hummel International Piano Competition and became its president. In 1989, he founded the International Master Classes for young performers in Piešťany – an even which was also organised by him until its end in 1999, with presence of leading Slovak and foreign concert artists (piano, vocals, strings). He has been lecturing during various master classes: Sommer-Akademie Prag in Semmering, Austria (organised by the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna every year since 1999), in Tokio (since 2000) and at Liszt’s Music University in Budapest (2002), he has also intervened with speeches and lectures. Moreover, he has been invited to sit in juries of various international piano competitions –Bedřich Smetana international competition in Hradec Králové, CZ (1988, 1990), Johann Nepomuk Hummel International Competition in Bratislava, SK (1990, 1993, 1996, 1999), Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach (1994 Austria), Piano Schwaningen competition in Norway (1996), Ferenca Liszta International Competition in Budapest (1996, 2001) and Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Marienbad, CZ (1997, 1999).

"Lapšanský is an internationally acknowledged artist, ranking among the top of Slovak piano artists as well as Slovak artists in general. He is an ambitious and hardworking person, always aspiring for the ideal of perfection. He has reached a balance between deep emotionality – ranging from delicate poetic meditations, through a wide range of shades, up to dense, dramatic and invariably cultured metallic climaxes – and carefully considered direction of suggestive lines. Thanks to his sensitive musicianship and a vast and long-lasting body of experience, he has interiorised the principle to empathise as perfectly as possible with his music partners, their concepts, to their details of phrasing, articulation, agogics and building of lines. His rich chamber music activities made him develop extraordinary reactivity and readiness, displayed also during the replacements he had been obliged take in his concert activities." (Vladimír Čížik: Slovník slovenského koncertného umenia I., Hudobné centrum, Bratislava 2002, p. 83)