Born: 1945, Hungary
Position at Liszt Academy: professor emeritus, former Head of the Musicology and Music Theory Department
Main subjects: music theory, solfege, chamber music, chamber singing, basso continuo, music history, history of keyboard instuments, methodology of music theory, music history
Education:
1969 – Diploma of Franz Liszt Academy of Music – musicology, music theory (with professors Bence Szabolcsi, Dénes Bartha, Lajos Bárdos, Zoltán Gárdonyi)
1980-83 – Cornell University USA – PhD studies, fortepiano studies with professors James Webster, Neal Zaslaw és Malcolm Bilson
Teaching experiences, mastercourses:
1970 - 1973 – teacher of Kodály Institute in Boston, USA
1973 - joined Liszt Academy of Music
1992 - mastercourse in Hochschule für Musik, Detmold (Germany)
1997 - Professor of Liszt Academy
1997 - 2007 – Head of Music Theory Department of Liszt Academy
2002 - mastercourse in Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland)
2007 - mastercourse in Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano (Switzerland)
As a fortepiano recitalist she has been giving recitals, concerts (with soprano Mária Zádori, Malcolm Bilson, György Vashegyi and the Orfeo Orchestra, Miklós Spányi, Anna Korondi) mastercourses, lectures in many countries, including Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Great-Britain, Ireland and USA.
Her professor, György Kroó said about her in 1988:
„Katalin Komlós was trained as a music historian by the Liszt Academy. She was an outstanding student in the faculty to which she now belongs as a member of the teaching staff. She is, in the fullest sense of the word, a pupil of Szabolcsi: for her music is a declaration of humanity, and as such it bears the voice of its place and time of birth. In one person she combines indivisibly the practice and theory of music, and as a pianist (fortepiano) and musicologist she is both spokesman and specialist for a particular period...
…As a teacher she brings together in an ideal manner an enormous knowledge of repertoire, a born talent for performance, an evident independence of mind in her employment of the latest methods of analysis, conscientiousness, pedagogical ambition, and a sense of responsibility. Her pedagogical work remains always on the same high level both in the department of musicology as well as in other departments. Her pupils have trust and confidence in her, and look up to her as a moral example....."
Main research areas:
- 18th century keyboard music
- History of 18th century keyboard instruments
- Performance practice
Major publications:
Books:
1986 – PhD thesis in Cornell University: The Viennese Keyboard Trio in the 1780s, 2 volumes
1995 - Fortepianos and Their Music (Oxford University Press)
Translator of the book Charles Rosen: The Classical Style.
Numerous other publications, essays, articles, reviews, including:
„Haydn's Keyboard Trios Hob.XV: 5-17: Interaction Between Texture and Form" in Studia Musicologica 28 (1986), 351-400
„On the New Fortepiano in Contemporary German Musical Writings" in The Harpsichord and Fortepaino Magazine 4/6 (1988), 134-139
„Mozart and Clementi: A Piano Competition and its Interpretation" in Historical Performance 2/1 (1989), 3-9
„Veränderte Reprise: Aspects of an Idea" in The Music Review 51/4 (1990), 140-146
„The Function of Cello int he Pre-Beethovenian Viennese Keyboard Trio" in Studies in Music 24 (1990), 27-46
„Fantasia and Sonata: K. 475/457 in Contemporary Context" in Mozart-Jahrbuch (1991), Band 2, 816-823
„Mozart the Fortepianist", in „Perspectives on Mozart Performance" – (in Cambridge Studies in Performance Practice, (1991), 27-54
„Mozart the performer", in The Cambridge Companion to Mozart (2003), 215-226
„C. P. E. Bach today", in The Past in the Present, IMS Symposium (2003), 183-192
„Miscellaneous Vocal Genres", in The Cambridge Companion to Haydn (2005), 164-175.
„Mozart's Chamber Music with Keyboard", in Essays in Honor of László Somfai (2005), 193-206.
Awards and honours:
1995: Erkel-prize
1997: Grout Memorial Prize (USA)
1998: Doctorate of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
1998: Doctorate of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2004: Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic - Knight Cross
2007: Grand Prix of the Association of the Hungarian Creative Artists
2010: Széchenyi Prize
2010: Széchenyi Prize
Memberships:
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Musicology Committee
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Public Body
Association of the Hungarian Creative Artists
Contact:
komlosk1[at]t-online.hu