Ivan Krpan
Ivan Krpan was born in Zagreb in 1997. He graduated in piano from the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Professor Ruben Dalibaltayan. In 2021, he enrolled in the postgraduate Konzertexamen program at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in the class of Professor Claudio Martinez Mehner. He completed his primary and secondary music education at the Blagoje Bersa Music School in Zagreb in the class of Professor Renata Strojin Richter. He has won first prizes at regional, national, and international competitions.
In 2014, he won first prize at the EPTA Belgium International Piano Competition in Brussels, first prize at the Young Virtuosi International Piano Competition in Zagreb, second prize at the International Piano Competition of the Danube Countries in Ulm, Germany, and first prize at the International Piano Competition in Enschede, Netherlands. In 2015, he won fourth prize at the International Mozart Competition in Zhuhai, China. In 2016, he won first prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany, and third prize at the International Frederic Chopin Competition in Moscow.
He has attended masterclasses with professors Dalibor Cikojević, Siavush Gadjiev, Đorđe Stanetti, Kemal Gekić, Pavel Gililov, and Klaus Kaufmann. He received the Dean’s Award in 2014 and the Ivo Vuljević Award for the best young musician in 2015. The Rector of the University of Zagreb awarded him a special recognition for international achievements in 2016. The Zagreb Philharmonic awarded him the Young Musician of the Year Award 2016.
In 2017, he achieved great success by winning first prize at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. In the final, he performed as a soloist with the Haydn Orchestra and conductor Arvo Volmer, and his performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 won the favor of the jury and the audience. The concert was broadcast live by the Italian TV station RAI. Upon his return to Zagreb, he held a recital in the Blagoje Bersa Hall, which was broadcast live by Croatian television.
He is a recipient of the Vladimir Nazor State Award and the Rector’s Award for achievements in 2017. The victory in Bolzano brought him numerous engagements, including performances in Italy, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. He has performed in some of the world’s most famous music centers, such as Leipzig, Munich, Weimar, London, and St. Petersburg. In Berlin, he recorded his first studio recording for Idagio, which is available on the online portal www.idagio.com.