Biography
Since becoming a semi-finalist at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2000 Béla
Hartmann has enjoyed a wide ranging career, performing in venues from New York (Carnegie Hall) and London (Wigmore Hall) to smaller venues across the UK and Europe. His London series of the complete Piano Sonatas of Schubert at Steinway Hall culminated in the release of his highly praised debut CD of Schubert Piano Works (Meridian), and his performances for the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe at St James’s Piccadilly featured Beethoven’s piano variations, including the monumental Diabelli Variations. Aside from that his repertoire includes contemporary works by composers such as Birtwistle, Boulez and Bussotti, and he gave UK premieres of works by Widmann and Petr Eben. His most recent CD features the early Piano Concerto in A Minor by Mendelssohn, recorded with the Keld Ensemble. Béla Hartmann is also a keen musical essayist and has published articles and reviews on a wide range of music-related topics.
Béla Hartmann studied with Vadim Suchanov and Nicolas Economou in Munich, John Bingham at Trinity College of Music, London, and with Elisso Virssaladse in Munich.
As a composer Béla Hartmann has written a number of works, principally for the piano. His “Big Pieces for Small Hands” received critical praise in several countries, as did his “Paraphrases on Waltzes by Brahms”. He has composed and arranged several pieces for 4 and 6 hands as well as a number of concert transcriptions of vocal works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Mahler. His “All Right – 9 Piano Pieces for the Right Hand Alone” were published by Goodmusic in November 2025.
