Boldizsár Csíky Jr. - President of the Jury

Born in Reghin on November 25, 1968, he demonstrated remarkable musical abilities from childhood. He attended the Art High School in Târgu Mureș, where he studied under Szőnyi Márta and Ávéd Silló Éva. He continued his education at the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj, studying piano under Ileana Prada and Dana Borșan, and composition under Hans Peter Türk. As a student, he won five national piano performance awards, and in 1994, he received the "Cella Delavrancea" prize, awarded by maestro Dan Grigore.

In 1991, he began postgraduate studies with Maestro Jenő Jandó, a professor at the “Franz Liszt” Academy of Music in Budapest. In 1992, he was awarded a scholarship for masterclasses in Lübeck, Germany, where he studied with Professor Lev Naumov. Between 1993 and 1997, he participated in masterclasses with Professor Walter Krafft in Munich. In 1998, on the recommendation of Maestro Dan Grigore, he attended the summer course at Fontainebleau (France), where he studied with professors Gabi Cassadesus, Philippe Bianconi, and Philippe Entremont. In 2000, after numerous collaborations and approximately 40 concerts per year, the music director (Walter Krafft) of the Münchener Musikseminar (Germany) awarded him the title of permanent soloist.

He has performed with all of Romania's symphonic orchestras and has made several recordings, including CDs, as well as radio and TV appearances. He has been invited multiple times to serve as a juror for international piano competitions and has also held masterclasses both in Romania and abroad.

As a performing artist, he has given over 1,000 concerts and recitals in major music centers across Romania and internationally: Austria, England, Bulgaria, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the USA, and Japan.

He has collaborated with world-renowned conductors, including: Erich Bergel, Ion Baciu, Emanuel Elenescu, Emil Simon, Petre Sbârcea, Ludovic Bács, Aczél Ervin, Remus Georgescu, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Ilarion Ionescu-Galați, Sabin Păutza, Gheorghe Costin, Edvard Tschivzhel, Kocsis Zoltán, and others.

He has also worked in various chamber ensembles with acclaimed artists such as Ruha István, Ligeti Diana, Carmen Gurban, Gaetano d´Espinosa, Fenyő László, Rolf Herbrechtsmeyer, Andreas Henkel, Valentin Arcu, Dan Grigore, Jandó Jenő, the Transylvanian Quartet, the Gaudeamus Quartet, the Moscow Trio, and more.

In 2006, he earned a Doctorate in Music with a thesis titled “Stylistic Elements of Pianistic Creation in A. Skriabin – From Post-Romantic to Modern.” He also published the complete three-volume monograph of conductor Erich Bergel. He currently serves as a university professor at the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj. His piano students have been awarded prizes at national and international piano competitions, with some already developing significant concert and teaching careers.

Apolka Bonnyai

Apolka Bonnyai graduated as a pianist from the Liszt Academy of Music in 2001, where her professors were Dénes Várjon, Balázs Szokolay, and András Kemenes, and she obtained her DLA degree in 2013.

In addition to her studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, she participated in masterclasses with András Schiff, Malcolm Bilson, Ferenc Rados, Pavel Gililov, Dmitri Bashkirov, Lev Natochenny, Leslie Howard, and Norma Fisher.

She has won numerous scholarships and international music competitions. As a winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso and Golden Classical Music Awards international competitions, she performed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Carnegie Hall in New York.

As a recipient of the Weingarten Scholarship, she studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Professor Malcolm Bilson, and later at Montclair University in the United States under the guidance of David Witten and Mark Pakman, where she also earned a Performer’s Diploma as a Terplan Research Fellow.

She gave a highly successful concert at the 9th International Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan, which was recorded on CD. Other festival invitations include the Yamaha Artist Liszt Festival, the Hungarian Arts and Humanities Festival in New York, the Budapest Festival Academy, and the Cziffra Piano Festival. She has twice participated in the V4 Piano Festival in Sárospatak, where she also served as artistic director in 2019.

As a soloist, she has performed in prestigious venues such as the Palace of Arts, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozarteum, Alti Hall, the Subotica Synagogue, Auditorium Maximum, the Palace of Arts, the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music, and many other concert halls across Europe and America. She regularly makes recordings at the Marble Hall of Hungarian Radio.

Since 2001, Apolka Bonnyai has been a piano teacher at the King Saint Stephen Music High School. She regularly serves as a judge for piano competitions and conducts masterclasses both in Hungary and abroad.

She is the founder and artistic director of the Carpathian Basin Classical Music Festival and the Carpathian Basin International Piano Competition.

Adela Liculescu

Cristian Lupeș

Petruț Constantinescu

Silvia Sbârciu

Having received solid international training, pianist Silvia Sbârciu joined the musical ensemble in her hometown of Cluj-Napoca (first at the "Sigismund Toduţă" Music High School and then at the "Gh. Dima" Music Academy), continuing her studies at the well-known higher musical education institution Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim (Germany), where she followed her in-depth studies in the class of Professor Paul Dan. The fruitful professional internships in the companies of great masters of world piano art and important pedagogues (Karl Heinz Kämmerling from Mozarteum Salzburg within the Schleswig - Holstein Musikfestival, Lev Naumov from the Moscow Conservatory, Leon Fleischer from the Juilliard School of Music, New York, Konstantin Scherbakov, Dmitri Alexeev, Felix Gottlieb or Sviatoslav Pochekin within the International Klavieracademie Murrhardt - Germany) contributed decisively to the formation of the pianist's artistic profile. Her evolution was also strongly influenced by her participation in the IKIF (International Keyboard Institute and Festival - New York, USA) where she worked with pianists Sontraud Speidel, Akiko Ebi, Asaf Zohar and conductor Eduard Zilberkant. Both as a soloist and as a chamber music partner, the pianist's calling card includes important festivals such as the "Toamna Muzicală Clujeană" Festival, the "Mozart" Festival, the "Ionel Perlea Lied Interpretation Festival", the "Sigismund Toduţă" Festival or the 3TTT Festival (3. Internationale Troessinger Tastentage) in Trossingen, Germany. She gave master classes at the 3TTT Festival and at the "Stanislaw Moniuszko" Academy of Music - Gdansk, Poland and was part of the jury of the prestigious international competition "Dinu Lipatti Young Musicians Competition" - Rome, Italy.

In addition to the rich solo activity carried out with the Philharmonic orchestras of Cluj - Napoca, Timişoara, Oradea, Craiova, Sibiu, Târgu Mureş, Ploieşti, Braşov etc. the conductor's baton of Mihail Agafiţa, Ilarion Ionescu Galati, Paul Mann, Aurelio Canonici, Jozsef Horvath, Florentin Mihăescu, Janko Zsolt, Theo Wolters etc. as well as in solo recitals and concerts held in Romania, Germany, France, Sweden, USA etc., Silvia Sbarciu has also established herself as an experienced chamber partner, appealing with a passionate interest to the relationship literary text/musical text in the voice-piano duo. She is the president of the Romanian Mozart Society and a member of the European Lied Forum alongside important names in the genre. She is currently the manager of the "Transylvania" State Philharmonic in Cluj-Napoca, as well as a university lecturer, carrying out her teaching activity at the "Gh. Dima" Academy of Music in Cluj Napoca.

Horia Mihail

Horia Mihail made his debut at the age of 10, in his hometown of Brașov, performing the Concerto in D major by J. Haydn. Since then, he has performed over 1000 times with most of the symphony orchestras in Romania, including the "George Enescu" Philharmonic in Bucharest and the National Radio Orchestra. A graduate of the "Andrei Șaguna" College of Mathematics and Physics in Brașov, Horia Mihail studied piano first in Brașov, with prof. Stela Drăgulin, then at the Bucharest Academy of Music with prof. Constantin Ionescu-Vovu. After 14 years of studies in Romania, the pianist attended the University of Illinois. Here, he studied with Ian Hobson, obtaining, in 1995, his graduation and master's degrees. In 1999, he also received the "Artist Diploma" from Boston University, where he studied with Anthony di Bonaventura.

He is currently a Concert Soloist of the Radio Bucharest Musical Ensembles and the Brașov Philharmonic. As president of the Accendo Cultural Association, he carries out intense managerial activity, organizing five MusicON tours of the Romanian Piano Trio, three Stradivarius tours, and in cooperation with Radio România Cultural, the Pianul Călător and Duelul Viorilor: Stradivarius vs. Guarneri tours.

Participation fee

The Participation fee is of 50 euros/250 RON, payable with the competitor’s complete nameand mentioning « Targu Mures - Marosvasarhely 2026 ». If the fee is not paid, the application isn’t valid. When applying the competitors will upload a valid ID, this being used only for awarding prizes, with the protection of the personal data of the Competitors.

Any problem linked to the payment is on behalf of the applicant. In case of passing the application deadline the acceptance of the Competitor is at the latitude of the jury president.

The Competition Fee is to be paid in the accounts ::

Account Holder: Asociatia Ansamblul Baroc Transylvania

IBAN RON RO40BTRL01301205920774XX

IBAN EURO RO14BTRLEURCRT0092077404

SWIFT: BTRLRO22

The competition fee is non-refundable, except when the Competition doesn’t take place, in which case the refunding will take place in a delay of maximum 30 days from the cancellation announcement. If the fee isn’t paid, the application will not be valid.

Judging

The competitors evaluation will be made by the Jury, and the final mark results from the individual marks of the Jury members. The Jury’s decisions can not be contested, but the competitors are welcome to ask a personal opinion from members of the Jury.

General statements

The Competitors and their tutors give up totally and without exceptions any claims regarding audio-video recordings made throughout the entire Competition (including rehearsals, auditions and any other activities connected to the Competition), and pass the Organizer unrestricted rights of using these materials, following the laws and regulations valid in Romania and the European Community concerning the protection of personal data.

Each competitor will fill in and sign (through parents/legal representatives, if needed) a form that will allow the competition Secretary to use any personal data, photos and other audio-video materials. Nonfilling this form invalidates the application form without refunding the participation fee.

By the application fact the Competitor accepts all the rules of the competition, without any exceptions.

The jury is composed of eminent international professors and artists, whose integrity is guaranteed by their professional and artistic background. The organizers, together with the Jury members, commit to ensuring a competition environment free of conflicts of interest, namely to avoid situations where a Jury member might evaluate their own pupil or student.

The jury president may, in agreement with the Organizer, partially modify the provisions of these Regulations until the start of the competition, with immediate announcement of the changes on the Competition's website. It is the responsibility of the participants to follow the website to stay informed about the announcements posted regarding the Competition.

Registration

The candidates registration will be realized via the following link:

https://forms.gle/kKFDBezHhPqD44w88

Deadline: November 22, 2026

Contact

targumurespianocompetition@gmail.com

The piano used in the 2023 edition:

Yamaha CFX (2023 model), provided by Yamaha Music Europe and Soundcreation.

From the previous editions

Ivan Shemchuk - 1st prize, 2023 edition

Robert Bașcoveanu - 1st prize, 2024 edition

The piano used from the 2024 edition on:

Steinway Model D - concert grand, bought in 2024 by the Târgu Mureș State Philharmonic

• In the 2022-2023 season, Roman Fediurko and Izabela Voropciuc were soloists in two concerts with the Târgu-Mureș State Philharmonic. Roman performed the A minor Concerto by Robert Schumann, and Izabela the 1st Concerto by Frédéric Chopin.