The 92nd Street Y opens the 2009-2010 season on Saturday, October 17 with a recital by Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon, part of both 92Y's Masters of the Keyboard and Hungarian Accents series. With this concert Dénes Várjon makes his New York City recital debut. He appeared at 92Y this past March in a three-concert series with Steven Isserlis, and his performance earned such critical and audience praise that 92Y immediately invited him back.

First prize winner in three competitions, Dénes Várjon has also been awarded the Ferenc Liszt Prize, the highest cultural distinction by the Hungarian Government. He is a regular guest at the most prestigious festivals such as Salzburg, Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, Venice Biennale, Ruhr, Edinburgh and Marlboro. Orchestral engagements have included the Tonhalle, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Camerata Bern, and the orchestras of Athens, Bremen and Toulouse.

Mr. Várjon's program is dedicated to solo works of Janá?ek, Veress, Bartók and Liszt and he is joined by pianist Izabella Simon in piano four hands with works by Schubert, Dvo?ák, Bach and Kurtág.

Hungarian Accents is part of Extremely Hungary, a yearlong festival showcasing contemporary Hungarian visual, performing, and literary arts in New York and Washington, D.C., throughout 2009. The festival is organized by the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York, which sponsors a range of programs celebrating Hungary's past, present and future, and is made possible in part by funding from the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture. For more information, please visit the festival's website at www.extremelyhungary.org

Mr. Várjon's performance replaces that of Zoltán Kocsi

For press tickets and other inquiries, please contact Amelia Kusar at Kirshbaum Demler & Associates: 212-222-4843 | akusar@kirshdem.com

Single tickets are $48/$38 (ages 35 & younger, $25) | Series Subscription: $125/$95 (ages 35 & younger, $60).Tickets may be purchased by calling 212.415.5500, visiting www.92Y.org/Concerts, or at the Box Office. The 92nd Street Y is located at 1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street.

Saturday, October 17, 2009, 8pm
Masters of the Keyboard | Hungarian Accents
DÉNES VÁRJON, piano
With Izabella Simon, piano

SCHUBERT: March No. 1 from Deux marches caractéristiques in C Major for Piano Four Hands, D. 968b
SCHUBERT: Allegro in A minor for Piano Four Hands, D. 947, "Lebensstürme"
JANÁ?EK: In the Mists for Piano
DVO?ÁK: Selections from Slavonic Dances for Piano Four Hands, Op. 46
BACH/ KURTÁG: Three Chorale-Preludes Transcribed for Piano Four Hands
KURTÁG: Selections from Játékok (Games) IV for Piano Four Hands
VERESS: Sonatina for Piano
BARTÓK: Old Dance Tunes from Hungarian Peasant Songs for Piano
LISZT: Schlaflos, Frage und Antwort for Piano
LISZT: Valse oubliée No. 1 for Piano
LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 for Piano

Dénes Várjon biography

Izabella Simon biography

Watch Várjon YouTube clip here

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES IN HUNGARIAN ACCENTS SERIES:
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 3pm
Keller Quartet
Works by Beethoven, Ligeti, and Bartók

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 8pm
Miklós Perényi, cello
Benjamin Hochman, piano
Works by Bach, Kodály, Ligeti, and Brahms

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES IN MASTERS OF THE KEYBOARD SERIES:
Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 8pm
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Works by Haydn, Liszt, Fauré, and Schumann

Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 8pm
Jonathan Biss, piano
Works by Haydn, Schoenberg, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven

ABOUT THE 92ND STREET Y
Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. The 92nd Street Y's mission is to enrich the lives of the over 300,000 people who experience 92Y programs in person and through 92Y's website and its satellite, television, radio and Internet broadcasts. The organization offers comprehensive performing arts, film and spoken word events; courses in the humanities, the arts, personal development and Jewish culture; activities and workshops for children, teenagers and parents; and health and fitness programs for people of every age. Committed to making its programs available to everyone, the 92nd Street Y awards up to $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches out to more than 6,000 public school children through subsidized arts and science education programs. For more information, please visit http://www.92Y.org/.