Josef Bulva

Josef Bulva (January 9, 1943 in Brno, in the province of Moravia, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic) is a Czech pianist who began his training at the age of nine at the music school of Napajedla, and at the age of thirteen gave his first concerts playing works by Mozart, études by Liszt and the “Paganini Variations” by Brahms. He was excused from conventional education and entered the conservatory in Brno with a state scholarship and then went on to the Music Academy in Bratislava (where Lucia Popp and Editha Gruberova also studied), where he graduated with honors. Soon after, at twenty-one, he was promoted as an “artist of the State”.

The subsequent intense concert activities of the pianist in many countries were abruptly interrupted in 1971 for an entire year by a serious accident. His immigration to the West due to political reasons followed, and he took residence first in Munich and then in Luxembourg, where he resumed his concert and recording activities.

In 1996 another accident injured his left hand in a way which was considered at the time to be permanent, and forced him to end his career as a professional pianist. Since that time he has lived in Monaco.

However, contrary to all expectations, the injury healed over the years and thus Bulva was able after a pause of 13 years, to give in November and December 2009 various highly acclaimed concerts in Augsburg, Munich, Zurich and Stuttgart.

Bulva’s rich repertoire contains, among others, works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and contemporary composers. In certain cases he made his own arrangements of existing compositions, as in the case of Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” and Wagner’s Overture to “Tannhäuser”.

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