Peter Bence

What comes to mind when you think of a piano recital? This time it’s something completely different.   

The virtuoso Hungarian pianist Peter Bence will be performing in Olavinlinna Castle. He’s a pianistic wildcard whose international popularity skyrocketed when he happened to make videos of two arrangements of Michael Jackson songs and posted them on his YouTube channel. Within a week, the videos had been viewed ten million times.   

He doesn’t just ‘play the piano’, he makes music on the grand piano in every conceivable sense. Bence is a multi-talented musician who also composes.   

Sometimes it sounds like an entire orchestra on stage instead of just one instrument.

A graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, he is also a composer. Although he is classically trained, Bence’s concerts feature arrangements – in the spirit of the 19th-century piano ‘rock star’ Franz Liszt – of modern-day hits ranging from Michael Jackson to Queen and Sia.  

Best of all is Bence’s motto: ‘Just for fun’.  

Program and cast

Artist 

Peter Bence