A pianist of "technical brilliance which allows him to express himself in an electrifying manner,
creativity and imaginative exuberance and a sensibility and luminosity which we are not used to hear
at the present time" (Ritmo, 2019), Goran Filipec is clearly "a talent to watch and LISZTEN out for "
(MusicWeb International).
Sovereign pianist of fiery energy and clearly profiled artistic personality, Mr. Filipec is a musician who
never fails to capture the hearts of international audiences and critics. Renowned for his exceptional
interpretations of works of Franz Liszt and classical and romantic repertoire of high virtuosity, Goran
Filipec defends creativity and subjectivity in performance, observing it as a co-creation of the musical
work. This approach leads him to arrangements and adaptations which he occasionally produces. He is
considered to have "three of the most important attributes that make a great pianist: artist, architect
and acrobat" (Gramophone, 2018).
Awarded with the Grand Prix International du Disque of the Budapest Liszt Society for
the album Paganini Studies (Naxos, 2016), Goran Filipec joined the list of laureates of that prestigious
prize, such as Vladimir Horowitz, György Cziffra, Alfred Brendel, Claudio Arrau, Zoltán Kocsis and
Maurizio Pollini. In 2018 he released 5 internationally acclaimed CDs for Naxos Music Group, including
two all-Liszt albums (Dances, Poems), and three albums featuring rarities of the piano repertoire
composed by virtuoso pianists of the beginning of the 20th century (Friedman, Hambourg, Zadora,
Bersa, Braga Santos; see CD Shop).
In earlier career, Goran Filipec was laureate of several international piano competitions such as José
Iturbi in Los Angeles, Mario Zanfi – Premio “Franz Liszt” in Parma or Parnassos in Mexico. After having
debuted in the Carnegie Hall in 2006, he appeared in top concert venues internationally as recitalist and
soloist with major symphony orchestras in Europe, the Americas and Japan. He performed with
Liverpool Philharmonic, Moscow Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic, Teatro Reggio
Symphony, Teatro Colón Symphony or Kodály Filharmónia, and was invited on multiple occasions to the
Festival Contemporary Piano Faces of the Mariinsky Theatre, Progetto Martha Argerich and Dubrovnik
Summer Festival.
Goran Filipec's musical training started in native Croatia with Marina Ambokadze and Evgeny Zarafiants
and continued at Moscow Conservatory and Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Oxana Yablonskaya,
Natalia Trull and Naum Grubert. He holds a Ph.D in Music Research and Performance of Sorbonne
Universités and National Conservatoire of Music and Danse of Paris. His research examines the sources
and the characteristics of the so-called “grand manner” of piano playing, and identifies the roots of
orchestral, polyphonic and assimilating pianistic culture in the violin of Paganini.
Mr. Filipec is co-founder and president of the Société Franz Liszt de Genève , devoted to the
appreciation and study of the oeuvre of the Hungarian composer..