Goran Filipec was born in Rijeka in 1981 and showed considerable early musical talent. After completing his studies in Croatia at the Academy Ino Mirkovich he continued at the Cologne Musikhochschule, the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His concert performances have led him to some of the most prestigious concert halls of Europe, including the Auditorium di Milano, The Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, the Budapest Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, and the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, as well as to Japan, South America and the United States. He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including the Concorso Internazionale Franz Liszt – Premio Mario Zanfi (Italy), the Concurso de Piano Parnassos (Mexico), the José Iturbi International Music Competition (USA) and the Gabala International Piano Competition (Azerbaijan). His Naxos recording of Liszt’s Paganini Studies [8.573458] was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque of the Budapest Ferenc Liszt Society, previous winners of which have included Vladimir Horowitz, György Cziffra, Alfred Brendel, Claudio Arrau, Zoltán Kocsis and Maurizio Pollini.