Drahoslav Bango is a pianist, composer and producer. Last year he won the Young Talent Stage organized by our festival. As the winner, he was given the opportunity to open this year's Bratislava Jazz Days at the main stage of Slovenská sporiteľňa. He is currently working on his debut album Drahoslav Bango & Friends, which will feature his own compositions, enriched with elements of classical music, jazz and Latin-American music.
He started playing the piano at the age of three. At the age of five, he made his first appearance in front of an audience at the International Mozart Competition in Brno, where he received an honorable mention, and the prize for the youngest participant in the competition. At the all-Slovak piano competition of Dezider Kardoš in Bánovce nad Bebravou he took 1st place.
Drahoslav Bango studied at the State Conservatory in Bratislava and at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. In addition to his studies, he took part in other competitions - at the International Novák Piano Competition in Kamenice nad Lipou he won 1st place and the prize for his interpretation of Novák's works. At the Danubia Talents Competition in Vienna he won 3rd place. His greatest success was 3rd place in the Open Category at the Liszt Ferenc Competition in Budapest, where he also won 2nd place in the Professional Category.
In his jazz career, he won the Live Performance Award in the Jazz Start Up Competition, and also won our Young Talent Stage Competition.