Curriculum Vitae
Ivan Šiller is a concert pianist, pedagogue and organizer of musical projects.
He studied piano in Bratislava (ZUŠ, Milica Kailingová and VŠMU, Daniela Varínska) and Ghent (Royal Conservatory, Daan Vandewalle), as a scholarship holder in the USA (Tanglewood Music Center), Canada (Banff Centre for the Arts) and Germany (Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt). He is an interpreter of classical and contemporary music, ensemble and solo performer, and a musical reinterpreter of visual works. He enjoys collaborating with other musicians with whom he forms various ensembles – Cluster ensemble, Ensemble Ricercata or Prague Modern.
He co-creates alternative “educational institutions” – the student project VENI ACADEMY or the SoundOrchestra series of children’s workshops – focusing on improvisation, graphic scores and experimental music. He actively collaborates with contemporary Slovak and foreign composers. He has worked at the Department of Music Education of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University as a teacher and head of the department.
He is the author of numerous musical projects, organizer of festivals and concert cycles. From 2010 to 2022 he chaired the Slovak section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), with which he prepared the musical event of the year 2013 – ISCM World New Music Days – awarded at the Radio_Head Awards 2013. In 2016, he became the artistic director of the SUPERAR Slovakia educational project, which takes place in cooperation with the Vienna Boys Choir and Konzerthaus Wien. He has received several prizes and nominations for his artistic work. In 2016, 2018 and 2019, the Cluster ensemble was nominated for the Tatra banka Foundation Award for the album Cluster ensemble Plays Philip Glass, for the Crystal Wing Award in the music category and for the Radio_Head Award in the category Recording of the Year – Classical Music.
In 2018, he released his debut solo CD FIFTY, which is a unique collection of more than 20 compositions by contemporary composers. In 2020, he received a nomination for the Radio_Head Award in the Classical Music category for his next solo album Lasciar sonare with music by P. Glass, V. Silvestrov, G. Ligeti and M. Burlas.