The Croatian pianist Goran Filipec has concentrated on the demanding virtuoso works of Liszt and additional Romantic-era composers. His performances have reached audiences across the Western hemisphere and as far as Japan, while his recorded output expanded swiftly through the final years of the 2010s. Born in Rijeka in 1981, at that time part of Yugoslavia, Filipec received his training first at the Ino Mirkovic Academy under Marina Ambokadze and Evgeny Zarafiants, then continued at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany, the Oxana Yablonskaya Piano Institute in Lugano, Switzerland, the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands. Following these studies he captured first prizes at the Gabala International Piano Competition in Azerbaijan and the José Iturbi International Piano Competition in Los Angeles during 2009, at the Concurso de Parnassos in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2010, and at the Concorso Pianistico Internazionale Franz Liszt in Parma, Italy, in 2011. He has nevertheless remarked, “Apart from a few interesting meetings which occurred during these competitions, I cannot remember of anything that would have contributed to my playing.” Live performances proved far more significant, taking him through Europe, North America, and farther afield. Among the venues he has played are Carnegie Hall in New York, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Philharmonie in Paris, and the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest. His first recording appeared in 2006 on the Eroica label and featured piano music by Rachmaninov and Mussorgsky. Subsequent releases, issued chiefly on Grand Piano and Naxos, have encompassed not only Liszt and Scarlatti but also works by the Croatian composers Ivo Macek and Blagoje Bersa. In 2018 Filipec collaborated with conductor Álvaro Cassuto and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on a Naxos album presenting the Piano Concerto by the Portuguese composer Joly Braga Santos.
