Zuzana Šimurdová
Piano
Zuzana Šimurdová is a Czech-Canadian pianist, based in Edmonton. She is fascinated by classical and contemporary music. Following the success of the World premiere CD recording of the complete Fiser Piano Sonatas on the NAXOS Grand Piano label, in February 2025, she released her “Vertical Landscapes” CD of Canadian contemporary women composers for PGMaudio label.
As a piano soloist, Zuzana Simurdova has most recently performed the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12, KV 414 with the Chamber Orchestra Edmonton, under the baton of Lidia Khaner and gave the Canadian premiere performance of the Piano Concertino H.264 by Bohuslav Martinu with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Claude Lapalme. Zuzana has also performed the Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto with the West Bohemian Symphony Ochestra (CZ), Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (CZ) and Orchestra Symphonique de l’Isle, Montreal; the Grieg Piano Concerto with Janacek Orchestra (CZ) and the LUUMS Orchestra Leeds, (GB); Poulenc Concerto for 2 Pianos with the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra (PL).
Her great inspiration is a composer and organist (her great-grand-father Eduard Marhula (1877-1925), who was a student of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. Marhula founded the first state Music Institute in her hometown (1907); now named after him.
Zuzana is a graduate of the Universite de Montreal and Concordia University in Montreal (Canada), the Janacek Conservatory Ostrava and the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Brno (Czech Republic), she continued her studies under the guidance of Professor Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music (UK). Simurdova began her piano career as a Laureate of the UNESCO Awards in Paris for her interpretation of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1.
In 2005 Zuzana Simurdova represented the Czech Republic at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. She is a First prize winner at the International Music Competition Anglo-Czechoslovak Trust in London and the Janacek First Prize at the International Piano Masterclasses Competition “Prague-Vienna Budapest” (Austria). As a winner of the Chopin Award at the IBLA Grand Prize International Competition she had her debut performance at the Carnegie Hall. She has given solo and chamber concerts across Europe, the US, Canada, China and South Korea. She is enjoying chamber music as well, as a part of the ZUMI Piano Duo, formed together with her husband, pianist, Dr. Mikolaj Warszynski.
Zuzana is very honoured to have received grants from the Alberta Founndation for the Arts and from the Canada Council for the Arts, for her Contemporary Music Projects for piano solo and for ZUMI Duo.She has been a featured artist on radio broadcast in Czech and Canada, and made her TV appearance on France 2, CT 2, CT1 and OMNI TV Toronto. Zuzana has taught full time Piano Interpretation at the University of Daegu, part time at the Janacek Conservatory in Seul (South Korea) and at the Conservatory in Opava, (Czech Republic). In Edmonton, she is a co-director of the Chopin Piano Studio.
