Miklós Perényi

Miklós Perényi is one of the great cellists of his generation. The uniqueness of his playing is characterized by his incomparable fine and nuanced sound, coupled with outstanding musicality, which always takes center stage in his performance.

At the age of five, he began studying the cello with Miklós Zsámboki, a student of David Popper, and at nine, he gave his first concert in Budapest. His further development is owed to Enrico Mainardi in Rome and Ede Banda in Budapest. In 1963, Miklós Perényi was a prize winner at the International Casals Competition in Budapest. Casals invited him to his masterclasses in Puerto Rico in 1965/66, followed by several summers at the Marlboro Festival.

Since 1974, Miklós Perényi has been teaching at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, where he holds a professorship. In addition, in 2014, he was appointed the "International Chair in Cello" by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. For his musical achievements, he was awarded the Kossuth Prize in 1980, the Bartók-Pásztory Prize in 1987, and the Hungarian "Artist of the Nation Award" in 2014.

His solo career has taken him to the great orchestras of the world, including a tour with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle in 2013. He has been a guest at music festivals in Edinburgh, Lucerne, Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, Hohenems, Warsaw, and Berlin, as well as at the Cello Festival in Kronberg and the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, France.

His repertoire spans from the 17th century to the present day. Chamber music-wise, he has a close collaboration with András Schiff.

In addition to his concert performances and teaching, composing works for smaller and larger instrumental ensembles, as well as for solo cello, is another focus of his activity.

Miklós Perényi can be heard on numerous recordings. With ECM Records, he has recorded the complete works of Beethoven for cello and piano together with András Schiff. In early 2012, his highly acclaimed solo CD of works by Britten, Bach, and Ligeti was released on the same label. In 2013, the recording of Schubert's Quintet, performed together with the Kuss Quartet, was released by Onyx Classics. Exactly forty years after his first complete recording of the six Bach Suites, Miklós Perényi re-recorded them and released them in the fall of 2020 on Hungaroton.