Oláh Krisztián Quartet

The Krisztián Oláh Quartet is the young pianist-composer's most important musical project, which can be felt through the atmosphere created by the four musicians. The band's program is based on Krisztián's own compositions, but all the members are also great improvisers, so spontaneous and collective improvisation is an integral part of the production, embodying the spirit and musical tools of today, thus forming a fresh and complex sound world for the band.

Krisztián Oláh is a pianist and composer who has won the Artisjus, Junior Prima, and twice the Orszáczky awards. At the age of only 20, he won third place at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and in 2018, he was the first Hungarian jazz pianist to reach the finals of the international piano competition organized by the Thelonious Monk Institute in Washington. Classical music elements and compositional techniques, as well as the improvisational flow and abstract rhythms of contemporary jazz, form an important part of his music. He strives to connect and synthesize these two musical worlds as organically as possible, with the aim of creating a dynamic, vibrant contemporary musical world.

His approach to music and composition changed fundamentally when he began studying composition at the Liszt Academy of Music in 2020. Following the quartet's 2020 debut album, At the Back of My Mind, Crescendo (2022) reflects Krisztián Oláh's shift from impulsive, instinctive writing to conscious composition. Their third album, Music for 24/7, was released in 2023, featuring one of Britain's iconic horn sections, TRYPL Horns. The album Perspectives of Verve was recorded in the fall of 2024; Krisztián Oláh's deep immersion in classical and contemporary music and composition is evident in the form of the compositions, the performance style, and the structure of the improvisations.