Pianist IVAN VIHOR made his debut with the orchestra at the age of 10, performing Bach's Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056 with the Sinfonica del Festival di Chioggia orchestra under the direction of Pietro Perini. Praised as a child prodigy and enviable virtuoso, he soon began performing at solo concerts and recitals.
He was born in 1997 in Rijeka where he started his music education at the age of 6, in the class of prof. Ana Dražul. He graduated with the highest marks and after that, at the age of 16, enrolled in piano studies at the Conservatory of Gaetano Donizetti in Bergamo, Italy, in the class of prof. Marco Giovanetti, where he graduated from with the highest Cum Laude grades. He also completed his studies at Accademia di Musica Pinerolo, in the class of prof. Enrico Pace and at the Musicale Santa Cecilia Bergamo Academy with prof. Konstantin Bogin. He is finishing his master's degree in the class of prof. Marco Giovanetti at the Bergamo Conservatory. He was studying a high master course at the Piano Academy Incontri col Maestro in Imola with Roberto Giordano and Enrico Pace where in December 2022 he gave a recital for his doctorate with the highest marks. He also improved at master classes of the world's most respected pianists and pedagogues. He also studied harpsichord and basso continuo in the class of S. Vartolo, D. Rocchi and M. Messori, and he also plays viola.
Since spring 2019, Ivan has been teaching piano at the Gaetano Donizetti Conservatory in Bergamo and at the Lettimi Conservatory in Rimini, Adria and currently in Cuneo (Italy). Since December 2025, he has been employed at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb.
Ivan Vihor attracted the attention of the general public in 2017 at the age of 20, when he won the most prestigious Italian competition in Pesaro - Premio Delle Arti (as the only non-Italian pianist ever). In the same year he was proclaimed the best young musician of Croatia, winning the National Competition Papandopulo and in the same week Ferdo Livadić International Competition.
Those successes were followed by invitations to perform at a number of prestigious music festivals such as Osor Musical Evenings, Samobor Festival, St. Marcus Festival, Spoleto Festival, Onde musicali Iseo, Festival pianistico Brescia e Bergamo, Concerts du Cloitre Nice, Shandelee Music Festival and Monferrato Classic Festival. Since then, Ivan Vihor has performed in many countries including Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, the USA, Monaco and South Korea under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as U. Lajovic, P. Perini, A. Ceccato, B. Šipuš, M. Tarbuk and others.
Ivan Vihor is the winner of more than 50 awards at national and international competitions. In 2018 he was the laureate of the Svetislav Stančić International Piano Competition in Zagreb, the Massarosa Piano Competition in Italy and the Lazar Berman International Piano Competition in Aversa, Italy.
In 2019 he obtained a prestigious prize Young talent of the year given by UBI Banca and Festival pianistico Brescia e Bergamo and 2020. Award Mo. Ivo Dražinić for the best young musician awarded by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and LAUS Academy.
He is one of the finalists of the 12th Franz Liszt International piano competition in Utrecht in 2020. In 2021 performed in the Monte Carlo Opera as one of the eleven best pianists at the Monte Carlo Piano Masters.
In June 2023, he enters the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Music Masters as one of the four best pianists, performing at the Salle Garnier-Opera de Monte Carlo, in a special edition on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Prince Rainier III. In December of the same year, he held a recital in Seoul at the Hankuk University Concert Hall.
He recorded a CD for the music label MC Harmony (Schumann, Beethoven, Liszt, 2015) and for the music label Vox Primus CD Contradanza (Papandopulo, Bach, Liszt, Debussy, 2020). His third CD Liszt - Transcriptions was released under the label Vox Primus (Bach/Liszt, Beethoven/Liszt, Liszt, Liszt). With that release, he won a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards, for which 391 releases from 117 record companies from all over the world competed. The fourth audio carrier Les barricades mystérieuses (Couperin, Bach, Rameau) is also being prepared.
Ivan Vihor actively plays chess and was multiple state champion and vice-champion, holds the title of FIDE Master (FM).