Suzana Bartal establishes herself as one of the foremost pianists of her generation. Her playing has been hailed as “brilliant, full of shades and virtuosic” by the Bonner Anzeiger. Recent performances have taken her to prestigious venues such as the big hall of the Paris Philharmonie, the Auditorium du Louvre, Salle Pleyel, Radio France and the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Merkin Hall in New York, the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Los Angeles, the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venise, as well as Milton Court in London. Highlights include concerts at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence, the Festival de l’Epau, the Rencontres Musicales Evian, the Festival Berlioz, the Festival de Besançon, Festival “Classique au Vert” in Paris, the Vichy Opera House, the Kaposvar Chamber Music Festival in Hungary, Schloss Elmau in Germany and the Turku Music Festival in Finland.

She has made appearances on the French radio (Europe 1, France Musique, Radio Classique, Radio France Internationale), Rai 3 Radio, the WDR (West Deutscher Rundfunk), the Danish Radio (DR), the Belgian Radio RTBF3, the Hungarian and  Romanian  radio, as well as French, Portuguese, Hungarian and Romanian television channels.

After performing on several occasions the complete Liszt “Années de pèlerinage” in three concerts on the same day, her recording of this cycle was released in a triple abum on the label Naïve in March 2020 to praiseful reviews: ““These three perfect discs (…) consacrate the new priestess that the piano of Liszt was awaiting” (Jean-Charles Hoffelé).

Suzana Bartal has been appointed the new artistic director of the Festival Piano à Riom starting its 34th edition in 2020.

Her first album with solo works by Schumann has been released in March 2016 by Paraty (Harmonia Mundi distribution) and has been warmly received by the critics. The recording was « Coup de coeur » on Radio France Internationale and Bertrand Boissard wrote in the magazine Diapason : “The depth of her touch combines with the richness of the textures (…) the playing is characterized by its softness, seduces by its plasticity (..) assuredly, a musician.”

She performed under the baton of conductors Marzena Diakun, Ariel Zuckermann, Peter Oundjian, Samuel Jean and Wolfgang Doerner, with ensembles such as the Orchestre Pasdeloup, the Orchestre d’Avignon or the Madeira Classical Orchestra. Next season she is invited to perform with the Orchestre National d’Auvergne (conducted by Roberto Fores Veses), the Jyväskylä Sinfonia (conducted by Kensho Watanabe), the Orchestre Pasdeloup (conducted by Corinna Niemeyer), the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Darrell Ang), the Karlovy Vary Symphonic Orchestra, among others.

Suzana’s wide range of repertoire reaches from solo works and concertos to chamber music works, all of which she actively and passionately performs. She has given concerts all around the world: in Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, UK, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal, France and Romania as well as the US, China and Japan.

Suzana is also an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music and has worked with some of the most significant composers of our day, such as Thomas Adès and Eric Tanguy. She performed the world premiere of Tanguy’s “Rhapsodie” for viola and piano with Lise Berthaud at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence. This premiere was described as being of a “jubilatory virtuosity” by Thierry Hillériteau (Le Figaro).

Extremely active as a chamber musician, Suzana has performed with violinists Kristóf Baráti, Josef Spacek, Alina Pogostkina, Julia Pusker, Rosanne Philippens, Alexandra Conunova, Sayaka Shoji, Alexandra Soumm, Mayu Kishima, Déborah Nemtanu, Guillaume Sutre, violists Lise Berthaud and Pierre Lenert, cellists Henri Demarquette, István Várdai, Benedict Klöckner, Claudio Bohorquez, Edgar Moreau and Aurélien Pascal, clarinetist Pierre Génisson, as well as the Quatuor Zaïde.

Suzana Bartal was the winner of the New York Concert Artists Concerto Competition in 2013 and has made her NYC debut with orchestra in 2014. She was also the winner of the 2012 Woolsey Concerto Competition. A recipient of the prestigious scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, Suzana has also been supported by the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger, the ADAMI and the Williamson Foundation.

French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal was born in Timişoara (Romania) and started her musical education in her hometown. Only three years later she became a winner of national and international competitions and gave her first solo recital at the age of 12 and had her first concerto apparition at the age of 13. In 2005 she decided to move to France where she studied with Denis Pascal, Pierre Pontier and Florent Boffard in Paris and in Lyon at the CNSMD. Between 2011 and 2014, Suzana has perfected her skills at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Peter Frankl. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale and was awarded the Harriet Gibbs Memorial Prize for excellency in studies. In 2013 – 2014 Suzana has been a Teaching Fellow at the Yale College.

Many distinguished artists have influenced Suzana’s musical and artistic development, such as: Sir András Schiff, Leon Fleisher, Paul Lewis, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Claude Pennetier or Matti Raekallio, as well as the Ysaÿe Quartet, the Tokyo String Quartet or the Emerson Quartet. She has been invited to take part in the very selective International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove (UK).