Now living in Austria, Susanna ARTZT has inherited the splendid and profound culture of India from her father, as well as the one of middle Europe from her mother.

Born in Croatia, she received her first piano lessons there at the age of seven and only two months later she made her first appearance in public. At the age of 10 she won - being the youngest competitor - the first prize at the Croatian youth-piano-competition and shortly after appeared on TV. At the age of 15 she was admitted - being the youngest Croatian female student - to the class of Vladimir Krpan at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. Three years later she graduated in her studies for the piano with distinction. For her exceptional achievements during these studies she was awarded one of the highest prizes of appreciation by the University of Zagreb. Her debut with the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra was broadcasted on TV - she performed the piano concerto of the renowned Croatian composer Bruno Bjelinski on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Paul Badura-Skoda heard her for the first time when she was 16 and called her at once "his discovery" and also "a great talent of the young generation". Shortly after that first meeting Susanna Artzt moved to Vienna, where she continued her training as a pianist in his class at the University of Music. During these studies she became prizewinner of the competitions "Piano music of the 20th century and Austrian piano music after 1945" in Vienna, and of the International Piano Competition "Palma d'oro" in Italy. Later on she also attended the classes of Michael Krist and Peter Efler at the University of Music in Vienna.

At the age of 23 she finished her studies in Vienna with the Master of Arts degree. Susanna Artzt won scholarships of the Alban Berg Foundation, and of Yamaha Music Austria and was an active participant at various masterclasses - so among others of Murray Perahia, Jacob Lateiner, Rudolf Kehrer and Evgenij Timakin. In 1999 her first solo tour through Germany took place, where the audience and the critics were enthusiastic about her.

   Click CD sleeve below to hear Susanna Artzt playing
   Claude Debussy's "Reflets dans l´eau" (Images 1)

Her artistic activities include many solo recitals, solo performances with orchestra as well as performances with various chamber music ensembles, and radio productions. Together with her husband, the Viennese pianist Manfred Wagner-Artzt, she has founded recently the "Arsio Piano Duo".

Reviews

SUSANNA ARTZT´s masterly interpretation - I cannot say this otherwise - of piano works by Claude Debussy, Lili Boulanger and Alexander Scriabin, is, by the way, also perfectly recorded. A grand CD.

WDR 3, Westgerman Radio, Hans Winking, July 2002
 

...Whoever listens to the first book of “Images” or “Estampes” will have to admire such a fullnes of tone, such finely tuned grades of the piano passages, such a delicate use of the pedal that the names of the famous pianists spring to mind. It is not only that this playing on the piano is cultivated, it is also original.

Matthias Kornemann, RONDO, June 2002
 

SUSANNA ARTZT plays very clearly structured, with superior technical skills and with subtly differentiated tone colours works by Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin and also three little pieces by Lili Boulanger...

Karl Löbl, KURIER (Vienna/Austria), July 2002
 

SUSANNA ARTZT disposes of undisputed lyrical possibilities on the piano as well as a virtuoso´s hand.. this music arises in a strikingly natural way.. a rapturous CD.

WDR 3, Westgerman Radio, Hans Winking, July 2002
 

Enchanting piano pearls
Susanna Artzt, pianist, enchanted in the Brahmssaal of the Vienna Musikverein
The pianist Susanna Artzt captivated her audience with Debussy, Skrjabin, and Ravel. To make a journey for one evening, without moving: to immerse into Asiatic foreign parts of sound, then to sway in the rhythm of Spanish dances, and suddenly to hear the rain, as it splashes down in a garden in France. These are the locations evoked by the young pianist with her sophisticated, subtly differentiating interpretation of Debussy`s piano cycle "Estampes". In the emotional restraint, in the sustained piano, the curbings of a roaming thought are shown... Extremely passionate then Maurice Ravel`s "La Valse"... Tonal steps, dynamic jumps give the impression of flashlights from other worlds, other dimensions. They anticipate the drama which gradually plunges forward in a more and more tormenting way, "the fantastic and also fatal whirl of a waltz night" as Ravel commented himself.

"Die Presse", Vienna, Austria, April 2002

Contact details and further information

E-mail Susanna Artzt

For further details, see Susanna ARTZT's website