Simon-Várjon Piano Duo
The duo of Dénes Várjon and Izabella Simon is quite different from most of the "traditional" piano duos. The musicians, husband and wife, give relatively few concerts and although they, too, perform most of the pieces of the core repertoire for piano four hands and two pianos, they have a special interest in rarely played works. In addition to their high artistic quality, this makes their concerts almost always a special event.

Among the most important projects of the past few years we find the repetition of the "farewell concert" given by Béla Bartók and Ditta Pásztory in Budapest before their emigration to the US, performances of the double-concerto "Hommage a Paul Klée" by Sándor Veress, of Beethoven's Great Fugue in an arrangement for piano four hands by the composer himself, and of Mahler's Symphony No.1 transcribed for piano four hands by Bruno Walter.

The first CD of the piano duo was released in 2017 by the Hungaroton label: this features works by Schumann, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. This was followed by a recording of Beethoven's Great Fugue and Mahler's Symphony No.1. Their next project for the label will feature works of Schumann for piano four hands.

The duo has performed, among others, in New York's Carnegie Hall, Zurich's Tonhalle, London's Wigmore Hall and at the festivals of Salzburg, Schwetzingen, Bonn (Beethovenfest) and Marlboro. The two pianists are co-artistic directors of kamara.hu, Hungary's leading chamber music festival.