Born: 1962, Pécs
Academic degree, university position: professor
Studies:
He graduated from the Franz Liszt College of Music in Weimar (Germany) as a student of Roland Zimmer, and in the same institution he learned musical composition from Franz Just.
Teaching activities:
1987: He was the one, who set up the guitar department at the Pécs branch of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, and at the Secondary School of Arts in Pécs.
Since 1992 he has been teaching at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest).
Since 2002 he has been a teacher at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. 2002 is the year, when he established an academic level guitar department in Hungary.
Invited lecturer, master classes:
His master classes, which, time and again, are focused on Baroque or chamber music, are marked by a very high level of music pedagogical activity.
Major concerts:
Between 1985 and 1988 he gained fame as the winner of many international competitions. He regularly gives concerts in numerous countries of the world; among other places, he has already played in Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, Lichtenstein, Japan, and Singapore. He receives invitations for solo concerts and for the recital of orchestral concertos as well.
Besides his own compositions and transcriptions, the popularization of 20th century and contemporary Hungarian music (including the compositions of Barna Kováts, Ferenc Farkas, Máté Hollós, and Iván Madarász) plays a prominent role in his concerts. His transcriptions are musical specialties, which are being played on this instrument by him alone in the world. He has made radio and television recordings both in his native country and abroad.
Recordings:
His first CD was released in 1997 (in Author's Edition), on which he plays – in his own transcription and, for the first time in the world, on a solo guitar – the complete Goldberg Variations of J. S. Bach. In 1998 this CD was awarded Best Classical CD of the Year in Japan (Record Gejitsu). This solo guitar transcription is regarded by classical guitarists across the world as the transcription of the century. On his 1999 CD recording he plays his own Chopin-transcriptions, among them such rarely recited pieces as the Fugue and the Contradanse.
His third CD, on which he plays the lute compositions of J. S. Bach in his own transcription, was released in July, 2000.
In 2001 he recorded the 2nd part of his Chopin-transcriptions, and in 2002 the Hungarian Dances of Brahms (in his own transcription).
The CD-recording of The Art of the Fugue (J. S. Bach) in his own transcription was released in January 2003. The recording was greatly acclaimed by foreign critiques.
Apart from the lute compositions of J. S. Bach, all his recordings are world premiere on this instrument.
Major publications:
BOOKS:
In 2006, his Thoughts about the music and about the performance of the lute compositions of J. S. Bach was published by the Janus Pannonius University of Arts and Sciences (Pécs).
SCORES:
His compositions (Willow-Variations, Fünf Aphorismen, Flaumfedern) and his transcriptions of compositions by Chopin, the Hungarian Dances by Brahms and the lute compositions and the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach was released (in Poland, Germany, the USA and Japan) as well.
Memberships:
He is a recurring jury-member of international guitar competitions, and the artistic director of the International Guitar Festivals of Esztergom and Balatonfüred.
Awards and decorations:
2002: Artisjus Prize for the introduction and promotion of contemporary Hungarian compositions
2004: Liszt Prize
His own webpage: www.eotvos.net