Csaba Király, Award-winning Concert Pianist & Organist
Designer & Builder of the Kingboard, the Largest Keyboard Instrument in the World
A VERSATILE CAREER...
Csaba Király graduated (1989/1990) from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as a performing artist in organ and piano. As a First Prize Winner of seven Hungarian and two International Piano Competitions (Cagliari 1996, New Orleans 1997) he has given over fifteen hundred piano and organ concerts worldwide. In addition to his many recitals in his native Hungary, he has had concert engagements in nearly all European countries, and has performed to great acclaim in the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and many other countries.
His repertoire covers a wide range of styles from Baroque to contemporary music. Besides performing traditional classical music, he has played several modern compositions performed worldwide. His name is linked with numerous premieres and performances, such as the Piano Concertos of Lutoslawski and Ligeti, and the works by Kurtag, such as the Games, What is the Word.
Classical and jazz improvisation constitutes a major element of his musicianship. He approaches music as a composer, as evidenced by his significant number of organ and piano transcriptions, mostly of symphonies, oratorios, and operas. His organ transcription repertoire includes: complete oratorios, masses, symphonies, symphonic poem, overture, orchestral suit,e incidental music, as well as concerti and numerous piano works, transcriptions, paraphrases of excerpts from various romantic operas.
He has performed several concert series, including: Liszt’s and Bach's complete organ works; series of piano works of Schumann, Chopin and Haydn; the complete sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert; the complete piano works of Bartok; and well as a thirty-hour portion (27 concerts) of the piano works of Franz Liszt.
In 2003 he was awarded the Liszt Ferenc prize for his artistic activity. Since 2013 he has been the president of the Hungarian Liszt Ferenc Society.
He has more than two decades of pedagogical experience teaching piano and organ in several institutions, including the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Budapest andTaegu-Hyosung University in South Korea. He teaches piano, organ, and improvisation in the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts at the University of Pécs, where he is head of the Piano Department, a tutor in the Doctoral School, and University Professor.
In the past decade he gained valuable experience managing cultural institutions, serving as the director of the Bela Bartok Memorial House in Budapest, and as the director of the Music Institute in the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts at the University of Pécs.
Since 2009 he has dedicated many hours to creating what will be
the largest keyboard instrument in the world, to be completed in 2024.