Mentioned by Gramophone as "a stunningly original pianist with musical insight and maturity comparable to colleagues twice his age", brazilian pianist Cristian Budu had his playing portrayed by famous critic Alain Lompech as "grand, worthy of Arrau in his fifties, certainly of Nelson Freire (who so much admired his younger compatriot) or of any great conductor of the past such as Furtwängler", with a pianism through which "music emerges [...] in an imperious but invisible manner, as though he improvised" (Bachtrack, 2022 - La Roque D’Anthéron Piano Festival). The most honorable recommendation that Cristian has ever received came from the great Nelson Freire himself who, in his last interview, said he believed Cristian would become his successor.
Winner of the Clara Haskil International Competition, Cristian Budu also won awards in Brazil such as Instrumentalist of the Year (APCA) and Best Concert of the Year (Guia da Folha). On Gramophone, he entered the “Top 10 Recent Beethoven Recordings” and “Top 10 Chopin Recordings” lists which include recordings by Martha Argerich, Arthur Rubinstein, Maria João Pires, Dinu Lipatti, Murray Perahia and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Still on Gramophone, Cristian entered the “Top 50 Greatest Chopin Recordings”, which brings together 50 of the most anthological interpretations of Chopin in History.
Concerts in the last years include duos with Renaud Capuçon and Antonio Meneses, chamber music with musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, concerts with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and solo recitals at the Verbier Festival and La Roque D'Antheron Piano Festival. He has performed as a soloist with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orquestre de la Suisse Romande, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and at venues such as Jordan Hall, Liederhalle, KKL, LAC Lugano and Athenaeum Bucharest.
Cristian grew up in Diadema, outskirts of Sao Paulo, and during his childhood he was a student at the Brincante Institute (brazilian folklore music, dances and traditions), having classes with Antonio Nobrega and several artists who significantly contributed to his artistic development. Cristian was honored to participate in Nobrega’s shows and in one of them he played a full Brazilian Music solo piano recital. Later on, in Boston, he joined a quartet specialized in Brazilian Choro Music that won the Honors Competition of New England Conservatory.
Cristian has appeared as a soloist at important venues such as KKL, Jordan Hall, Liederhalle, Bucharest Athene, Sala Sao Paulo, LAC of Lugano, and has played and taught at many festivals like Klavierissimo (Zurich), Les Grands Interpretes (Geneva), Rising Stars series at Frankische Musiktage Festival (Germany), Rockport Music Festival (USA), Zfunot Tarbut series (Israel), Zermatt Festival (Switzerland), Piano aux Jacobins (France), Delft Chamber Music Festival (Nederlands), Monterrey International Piano Festival (Mexico), Campos do Jordao International Festival (Brazil).
Cristian has already performed with orchestras such as Orquestre de la Suisse Romande, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory Philarmonic Orchestra, Mendoza Philarmonic Orchestra, Montevideo Philarmonic Orchestra, Ermil Nichifor Philarmonic Orchestra (Romania), Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra, Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo University Symphony Orchestra, Amazonas Philarmonic Orchestra, Sao Paulo Youth Symphony Orchestra, Espirito Santo Symphony Orchestra, Camerata SESI de Vitoria, Orquestra Ouro Preto, Parana Symphony Orchestra, Curitiba Chamber Orchestra, Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Experimental de Repertório (Sao Paulo), São Caetano do Sul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergipe Symphony Orchestra, among others.
When Cristian moved to Boston in 2010 he hosted musical evenings that directly inspired the foundation of Groupmuse (www.groupmuse.com/about) in which he had a very important roll in its start and development. It generated great impact in the music world and received the support of Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In Brazil Cristian is the founder of Pianosofia (www.pianosofia.com), a project that takes classical music to houses through a community of musicians who cultivate the genuine love for Music also with the intention of reaching out to new public. The projects promotes chamber music with piano and aims to ‘wake asleep pianos up' at people homes, with the additional help from piano technicians at Aronne Piano Store. The project also gained the support of the Cultura Artistica Music Society.
Cristian started his musical studies with Elsa Klebanowski, a pupil of Wilhelm Kempff. He graduated from the University of Sao Paulo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music having Eduardo Monteiro as his piano teacher, and he earned his Master’s Degree in Piano Performance under the guidance of Wha Kyung Byun at the New England Conservatory of Boston, also having lessons with Russell Sherman. Later on he received the Presidential Scholarship by the same institution when he was accepted for the Artist Diploma, a prestigious program that takes just one instrumentalist per year (sometimes none at all) and offers sponsorship and concerts in the United States.
Cristian lives in Berlin today.