Hanna Csermely Saturday 9 May 2026 7.30 pm
Biography
22-year-old Hungarian pianist, Hanna Csermely, grew up in Southampton for the majority of her life where her passion for music was ignited. From the age of 7, she began having piano lessons and participated in many competitions and music festivals such as Fareham Music Festival, Gosport Music Festival, Southampton Music Festival and Portsmouth Music Festival with great success, winning many of her classes. Her successes resulted in receiving the award for ‘Most Promising Pianist’ by Mark Tanner and opportunities to perform at prestigious venues including Turner Sims Concert Hall, the King’s Theatre, Portsmouth in addition to being invited to play in the Emanuel Trophy Competition, London.
Aged 16, Hanna was offered a place on the Hampshire Specialist Music Course to study with Dr Samantha Carrasco. During her time on the course, she was selected to play in a master class at Steinway Hall with Professor Charles Owen, received a high distinction for her ARSM diploma and performed Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto. Additionally, she received regular coaching and performance opportunities with her chamber ensembles – including piano trios, piano duos and accompanying soloists. Hanna also played orchestral piano for the Southampton Youth Orchestras, accompanied instrumentalists for ABRSM exams, local choirs, played in pit orchestras and taught a handful of students.
Hanna has recently completed her Bachelors degree in Music Performance with Honours at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Helen Krizos. At the RNCM, she continued working with other musicians including singers, instrumentalists and in chamber ensembles. Her interest in collaborative piano lead her to being awarded prizes in the James Martin Oncken Song Prize, the Williams Howard Prize, the Underrepresented Competition, the Bessie Cronshaw/Frost Brownson Song Cycle Prize and being invited to perform at Buxton International Festival and Leeds University alongside Leeds Song Young Artists. Her recently formed piano trio, the Silja Trio, have also given a number of performances at venues including St John’s Church (Buxton), Manchester Cathedral and as part of the Go Beyond Music festival and receive regular coaching from specialists Jeremy Young, Donald Grant and Roger Hamilton. Hanna also gives frequent solo recitals in prestigious venues including Winchester Cathedral, Southwell Minster, Festetics Castle (Hungary), and has recently made her debut in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. An outstanding moment from her years of undergraduate studies was performing Grieg Piano Concerto with Langtree Sinfonia in Dorchester Abbey.
Hanna has received lessons and master classes from world-renowned tutors including Kathryn Stott, Andras Kemenes, Reto Reichenbach, Paul Janes, Istvan Dominko, Tamas Ungar, Kalman Drafi and Ulrich Koella. Hanna is open to exploring other genres of classical music which has lead her to participate in the ‘Intensive Classical Improvisation Course’ at the Crescendo Summer Institute with Dr Pauliina Haustein and the chamber music masterclass at Ticino Musica Festival. She also really enjoys sharing her love for music through teaching both privately and at music schools following the completion of her Pedagogy Course, where she was awarded the Clifford Hartley Prize for receiving the highest mark.
Hanna is looking forward to continuing her studies at the RNCM for her Masters degree, splitting between solo piano with Ben Powell and accompaniment with Dr David Jones. She is grateful to the Margaret Allen Piano Award and Help Musicians UK for their support.
Aside from music, Hanna enjoys running and has recently taken part in the Manchester half marathon. She is also fluent in English and Hungarian and is currently learning German and Spanish.
Concert Programme
Franz Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90
Mozart: Fantasy in C minor K. 475
Debussy: Estampes, L. 100
A few lines on the programme:
Schubert’s 4 Impromptus are some of his later works from his creative period of writing, creating a cornerstone of the piano repertoire. The first has march-like elements contrasted with a lyrical ‘love-song’ melody. The second impromptu is in ternary design, featuring rapid passage work based on scales and arpeggios. The third impromptu is the epitome of slow-moving Schubert melody over a flowing arpeggiated accompaniment. The last is a light, Allegretto movement dominated by arpeggiated motifs.
In the second half of the concert, Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor will be performed alongside Debussy’s Estampes. Mozart’s Fantasia in C minor, K. 475 (1785) is a dramatic, multi-sectional masterpiece, often serving as a prelude to the C minor Sonata, K. 457. It showcases profound emotional contrasts, featuring a solemn, chromatic opening that evokes J.S. Bach, shifting through dark, stormy, and lyrical sections before a defiant return to C minor.
Composed in 1903, Estampes (“Prints”) is a vivid, three-movement piano suite in which Debussy explores musical images inspired by places and atmospheres beyond France. Each movement functions like a finely etched picture, capturing not only a scene but also its color, texture, and light.
The opening movement, “Pagodes,” draws inspiration from Javanese gamelan music that Debussy encountered at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Layered pentatonic melodies, bell-like sonorities, and gently undulating rhythms evoke the resonance of gongs and the stillness of temple architecture. Rather than direct imitation, Debussy creates an imaginative re-creation of an Eastern sound world through delicate pedaling and shimmering harmonies.
“La soirée dans Grenade” shifts to Spain—though Debussy famously never visited. Through the habanera rhythm, guitar-like figurations, and subtly exotic harmonic inflections, he conjures a sultry Andalusian evening. The atmosphere is intimate and restrained, emphasizing suggestion over overt virtuosity, with fragments of melody drifting in and out like distant song.
The final movement, “Jardins sous la pluie,” returns to France, depicting gardens in a sudden rainstorm. Quick, sparkling figurations suggest falling raindrops, while snippets of French nursery songs appear amid gusts of wind and flashes of brilliance. The music surges with energy and brilliance before subsiding in a playful, rain-washed conclusion.
In Estampes, Debussy demonstrates his mature Impressionistic style: innovative harmonies, nuanced pedal effects, and an emphasis on color and atmosphere over traditional formal development. The suite remains one of the cornerstones of early twentieth-century piano repertoire, inviting listeners into a series of luminous musical landscapes.
