Valentina Babor

The Munich-born pianist is one of the most promising musical talents of her generation. Now 23 years old, she received her first piano lessons, besides instruction in violin, flute, and singing, at the age of five. At the age of eight, she gave her first piano recital; at twelve, she was accepted as a pre-college student at the University Mozarteum and the "Institute for Promotion of Outstanding Talents" in Salzburg.

Valentina Babor was instructed by Ludmila Gourari, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Elisso Wirssaladze and Gerhard Oppitz and receives important suggestions from the Hungarian pianist András Schiff.

Since 2013 she continues her studying as a master student with the Finnish pianist Antti Siirala.

Already at a very early age, the young pianist won a number of first prizes - for instance, at the age of six years, in the competition "Jugend musiziert" and "Klavierpodium der Jugend". Many other prizes followed at international youth competitions: In 1989 and 1999 with the "Münchner Klavierpodium der Jugend", in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 with the "Grotian Steinweg Piano Competition", as well as with "Jugend musiziert" in the years 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005.

Since her 10th year Valentina Babor has played solo and orchestra concerts on many renowned platforms in Europe and Asia, including Salzburg, Vienna, St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Barcelona, Peking e.t.c. and at various international festivals, such as the " Kissinger Summer ", the "Braunschweiger Classix", the "Alpen Classic Festival" in Bad Reichenhall, and the "Biennale Film Festival" in Venice.

As chamber musician she has performed regularly with Boris Kucharsky, Valeriy Sokolov, Graham Waterhouse, Sebastian Klinger, Daniel Blendulf, Maximilian Hornung, Clément Courtin, Konstantin Sellheim, Yury Revich and with many other members of the Munich Philharmonic, the BR-Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian State Opera.

Her mature musicianship, linked with her brilliant piano technique, has brought her great recognition since childhood. Thus she was chosen in 1999 as the most promising hope of the rising generation; in 2006 she received from the European cultural endowment foundation "Europa musicale" the classical prize "Rising Stars".

The young pianist is also passionately committed to contemporary music, as exemplified by her friendship and collaboration with the Munich composer Willfried Hiller, the Welsh composer Dafydd Llywelyn and the London- born composer and cellist Graham Waterhouse, which has given rise to several dedications. In December 2010 Valentina Babor gave the first performance of new piano pieces from "Book of stars" by Willfried Hiller; in October 2011 together with members of the Munich Philharmonic she premiered the exciting Piano Quintet "Rhapsody Macabre" by Graham Waterhouse at the "Liszt Festival Munich".

Besides her activities as soloist, Valentina Babor founded two chamber music ensembles in 2012, the EUROPEAN CHAMBER ENSEMBLE Munich and the BELLARTIS Trio. In October 2012 a new CD ("Russian Soul") with the young Russian violinist Yury Revich was published in Europe under the ARS Production Label. She takes a special interest in the piano repertoire from Spain and from South America and plans recordings with especially chosen solo repertoire. Other projects include recordings of a French/German program of both chamber music and orchestral music and the complete cycle of Piano Concertos by W. A. Mozart in 2013/2014.

Valentina Babor is INTERNATIONAL AMBASSADOR of the AMADEUS International School of Music in Vienna/Austria and represents this distinguished school in numerous concerts and diverse projects for highly talented young musicians.