Barnabás Kelemen, Violin

Biography

Violinist Barnabás Kelemen,
born in Budapest in 1978, started his violin studies with noted
Hungarian pedagogue Valeria Baranyai at the age of 6. He entered Eszter
Perenyi's class at the Franz Liszt Music Academy at the age of 11. In
2001 he received his diploma and was also awarded the Sandor Vegh Prize
by the Sandor Vegh Foundation in Budapest.

Mr. Kelemen is very
accomplished in the realm of international competitions, winning Second
Prize at the 1997 Szigeti Competition, First Prizes at the 1999 Mozart
Competition in Salzburg, the International Piano Trio Competition in
Kuhmo, Third Prize at the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Competition, and First
Prize and six of the eight special prizes at one of the most
prestigious competitions, the 2002 International Violin Competition of
Indianapolis.

Well regarded performances at
many of the world's music festivals in Colmar, Cambridge, Delft,
Capetown, Budapest, Prague, and Salzburg, and collaborations with
conductors and artists such as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner,
Zoltan Kocsis, Michael Stern, Tamas Vasary, and Steven Isserlis, have
brought Mr. Kelemen critical acclaim. He regularly performs in Europe's
distinguished concert halls with prominent orchestras, and next season
can be heard at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall, and
New York's Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Kelemen has released four solo records under the label Hungaroton. His first double CD, the Complete Works for Violin and Piano by Franz Liszt, with
pianist Gergely Boganyi, won the International Liszt Society's Grand
Prix du Disque. He has played first performances of the Ligeti and
Schnittke Violin Concertos in Hungary and world-premiere performances
of Gyorgy Kurtag's violin works.