Born: 1959, Miskolc
University position: senior lecturer
Studies:
He was introduced to the cimbalom at the age of 11. His first teacher was his uncle, Elemér Balogh, and later Beatrix Szöllős.
1980: Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, teacher: Ferenc Gerencsér, diploma: cimbalom-solfege-music teacher
2013: Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music: MA degree in folk cimbalom
Teaching activities:
University level:
Professor of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music since semester 2007/2008.
Intermediate level:
- Bartók–Pikéthy Primary and Seconday School of Music, Vác
- Ward Mária Primary, Secondary and Music School, Budapest
Master classes:
Austria
Switzerland
Germany
USA
Artistic activity:
During his 50-year musical career, he has played in nearly a hundred concerts a year all over the world, in various formations, not only with folk musicians, but also with symphony and jazz orchestras and contemporary ensembles. He also regularly contributes to recordings. His repertoire is varied. His starting point is the authentic performance of folk music (Hungarian, Gypsy, Transylvanian, Romanian, klezmer, Bulgarian and Serbian), as well as improvisational, jazz and world music.
He started his career as a folk musician. He has played with almost all Hungarian authentic folk music ensembles, Jánosi, Ökrös, Téka, Méta, Mákvirág, Vízöntő, Zsarátnok, Vasmalom, Muzsikás, and currently with the bands Rendhagyó Prímástalálkozó, Esszencia, Dobroda. He has performed with Márta Sebestyén, Ágnes Herczku, Ági Szalóki, András Berecz and Éva Korpás. He is an active participant in the folk dance movement that started in the 1970s as a dance accompanist musician. He toured for several months in Germany with the Magneten Cigány Show, directed by André Heller, for which he was the musical director. He was a member of the international ensemble The Other Europeans as a guest artist.
With his own orchestra, the Kálmán Balogh & Gipsy Cimbalom Band, founded in 1993, he has performed in the world's most prestigious concert halls and festivals. The most memorable of these are the Montreal Jazz Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and the Tuileries Palace in Paris. They have toured extensively in the USA, Canada and Germany.
Together with his artist partner Miklós Lukács, they perform folk, contemporary and jazz arrangements on two cimbalom duos, and have played at the Shanghai Expo, the Milan Expo, in Washington, Serbia, several Womexes, and in Paris. The group was awarded the Hungarian Heritage Prize in 2015. In 2012 and 2014, they toured the USA and Canada with the Cimbalogh Trio (Róbert Lakatos on violin and viola, Csaba Novák on double bass).
His classical music repertoire includes works by Bach and Bartók for two cimbaloms, and as soloist he has performed works by Brahms and Kodály with various symphony orchestras, the Brooklyn, Miami, Tallinn and Madrid Symphonies, and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Carnegie Hall. In their duo with Liszt Prize-winning cimbalom soloist Rózsa Farkas, they cultivate the musical legacy of Aladár Rácz, playing works by Bach, Couperin, Scarlatti and Bartók.
He has also played with various jazz groups such as BDS Collection (Gyula Babos, László Dés, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos), Improvocation (Arnie Somogyi, Tony Lakatos), Quartet B (Mihály Borbély), Dresch Quartett, Archie Shepp, György Vukán, Budapest Ragtime Band, David Murray and Randy Beckert.
He has played contemporary music in the Miskolc New Music Workshop and with the 180 group, and the Magony Duo, formed with his musician partner Ferenc Kovács 'Öcsi', is also active in this genre today.
Recordings:
1995: Kálmán Balogh & the Gipsy Cimbalom Band: Roma vándor
1997: Kálmán Baloghn & the Gipsy Cimbalom Band: Gipsy Colours
1998: Kálmán Balogh:The Art of The Gipsy Cimbalom
1999: Kálmán Balogh & Romano Kokalo: Gipsy Colours
2003: Kálmán Balogh & Gipsy Cimbalom Band: Aroma
2005: David Murray, Ferenc Kovács, Kálmán Balogh & Gipsy Cimbalom Band
2005: Kálmán Balogh: Karácsonyi örömzene
2006: Kálmán Balogh – Éva Korpás: Ó szép fényes hajnalcsillag
2007: Kálmán Balogh & Gipsy Cimbalom Band: Aven Shavale
2008: Kálmán Balogh: Master of the Gipsy Cimbalom
2009: Kálmán Balogh – Miklós Lukács: Cimbalomduó
2010: Kálmán Balogh – Rózsa Farkas: Chick Corea Childrens Songs
2010: Kálmán Balogh & Gipsy Cimbalom Band: Délibáb
2012: Kálmán Balogh Cimbalogh Trio
2015: Kálmán Balogh – Miklós Lukács: Cimbalom Duo, for four hands cimbalom;
- and he has contributed to nearly 100 folk music recordings.
Publication:
Kálmán Balogh – Dániel Szabó: Magyar népi cimbalomiskola / Cimbalom Method for Hungarian Folk Music (ed. Hungarian Heritage House, 2020)
Membership:
Cimbalom World Association (CWA)
Awards and honors:
1985: Young Master of Folk Art
1987: Rácz Aladár Cimbalom Competition, II. Prize
1999: eMeRTON Award
2005: Artisjus Award
2007: Kodály Zoltán Prize
2007: Artist of the Year
2009: Bezerédj Prize
2015: Hungarian Heritage Award (Cimbalom Duo)
2019: Martin György Prize
2019: Prima Primissima Prize
2022: Honorary citizen of Miskolc
Website:
www.kalmanbalogh.hu
Contact:
info[kukac]kalmanbalogh.hu