Miklós Skuta studied piano playing at the Conservatory in Bratislava with A. Elanova and at the Academy of Music and Drama in Bratislava with Eva Fischerova. In the period between 1983–84 he pursued his studies in Paris with Claude Helffer.
Miklós Skuta reached considerable achievements participaitng in international piano competitions, amongst them worth mentioning are:
Bedřich Smetana International Piano Competition (becoming its Absolute winner, 1982)
Beethoven’s Hradec (2nd prize, 1980), both held in the Czech Republic
Maria Callas International Piano Competition in Athens (3rd prize, 1983)
International Piano Competition of Prague Spring (Special Prize of the Slovak Musik Fund, 1988)
All–out gifted artist has performed not only classical music compositions but also other genres such as jazz and pop music. He is activ as a composer (jazz as well as contemporary music). He has collaborated with notable artists of both genres, amongs them Benjamin Schmid, Bertl Mütter, Christian Muthspiel, Juraj Bartos, Elisabeth Kulman, Tomasz Stanko, Didier Lockwood, Mark Feldman, Angelika Kirschlager, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Ernesto Molinari, Klaus Dickbauer, Jiri Stivin, etc.
As a solois and/or a member of various ensembles, he has played with the Symphony Orchestra Danubia-Budapest, OENM, die reihe, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Octet Ost, Motley Mothertongue, Capella Istropolitana, amongst others.
He has performed in several international festivals (of classical as well as jazz music) in Slovakia and abroad:
Liszt Fesztivál – Budapest, Warszaw Autumn, The Piano – Budapest, Kunstfest Weimar, Salzburg Biennale, Pianomania – Belgium, Zürich Jazz Festival, Melos-Etos, Contrasts – Lvov, Bratislava Music Festival, etc.
As a soloist, he has worked with such conductors as Johannes Kalizke, Bohdan Warchal, Theodore Kuchar, Róbert Stankovský, David McQueen, Martin Sieghart, Domonkos Héja, Szymon Bywalec, Oliver von Dohnányi, Daniel Gazon and others.
Apart from a great number of recordings having been made for the BMG, Amadeo, OEHMS Classics , ORF, Slovak Music Fund, Skuta recorded 16 Beethoven’s Sonatas (Opus ) and the Goldberg Variations for Hevhetia.
For this recording, he received the highest points (2×5*) by the BBC Music Magazine and it was being compared with the cult recording by Glenn Gould from the year 1955. As a result of this evaluation, he was offered to make his recital debut in London and in Paris . His next CD (2005) again with works from Bach (Toccatas, Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue, Italien Concerto) received the same rating in the same magazine one year later.
Since 1993, his compositions have been presented in Austria, Germany, the Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands, at approximatly 100 concerts. In 2005, he was ordered to compose the violin concerto for the Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid.
In 1996, Miklós Skuta and his wife Nora Skuta formed the Piano duo and since that time they have been focusing on rendition of the 20th century music.
Produced by CORPIA GROUP a.s. & Miki Skuta www.skuta.net
Recorded at the Concert Hall of the Nitrianská Galéria
Recorded by: Studio Eliasson
Recording Director: Peter Zagar
Miki Skuta‘s Photos: © Lenka Rajčanová 2012
Commentary: Peter Zagar
Design: Andrea Mikulcová, www.abm.sk
Piano Service: Zsolt Szabó
Piano: Steinway D-274, serial number: 592130
