Kovács Dénes
violin
Place of Birth
Vác
Date of Birth
1930
18 April 1930 Vác - 11 February 2005 Budapest
Outstanding violin artist, former professor and rector of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music.
He began to play the violin at the age of five - his extraordinary talent was noticed immediately. He started his music studies in the Fodor Music School as pupil of Dezső Rados, and then from 1944 he continued it at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, in the master class of Ede Zathureczky. Already at the beginning of his career he won many prestigious international contests.
Between 1951 and 1959 he worked as concert master of the Hungarian State Opera House. In 1955 he came in first place at the Carl Flesch Violin Contest, London. At the Music Academy he was professor (from 1957), and then became general director (from 1966) and rector (between 1971 and 1980). During this time - according to the traditions of the institute - he separated teacher training from artist training, established a separate chamber music department, and endeavored to improve the quality of the orchestral musician training. He founded many contests, like the Grand Prize of the Music Academy and the Training Institute of Talented Children.
He was on stage in nearly every country in Europe, but also in China, the USSR and the USA. As soloist he played almost the whole classical repertoire, introduced works by many contemporary Hungarian composers, and recorded a number of albums. His last performance was in Beograd, at the BÉMUSZ event series - he played Emil Petrovics' Passamezzo e Saltarello that was written for violin and percussions, dedicated to Dénes Kovács, who played it with extraordinary success. His style can be characterized by beautiful violin sound, technical perfection, unostentatious virtuosity and elegancy.
As recognition of his artistic and pedagogical achievements, Dénes Kovács was awarded with the Liszt Prize (1954 and 1958), the Kossuth Prize (1963), the title Merited Artist (1970) and the Bartók-Pásztory Award (1989 and 2000).
Outstanding violin artist, former professor and rector of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music.
He began to play the violin at the age of five - his extraordinary talent was noticed immediately. He started his music studies in the Fodor Music School as pupil of Dezső Rados, and then from 1944 he continued it at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy, in the master class of Ede Zathureczky. Already at the beginning of his career he won many prestigious international contests.
Between 1951 and 1959 he worked as concert master of the Hungarian State Opera House. In 1955 he came in first place at the Carl Flesch Violin Contest, London. At the Music Academy he was professor (from 1957), and then became general director (from 1966) and rector (between 1971 and 1980). During this time - according to the traditions of the institute - he separated teacher training from artist training, established a separate chamber music department, and endeavored to improve the quality of the orchestral musician training. He founded many contests, like the Grand Prize of the Music Academy and the Training Institute of Talented Children.
He was on stage in nearly every country in Europe, but also in China, the USSR and the USA. As soloist he played almost the whole classical repertoire, introduced works by many contemporary Hungarian composers, and recorded a number of albums. His last performance was in Beograd, at the BÉMUSZ event series - he played Emil Petrovics' Passamezzo e Saltarello that was written for violin and percussions, dedicated to Dénes Kovács, who played it with extraordinary success. His style can be characterized by beautiful violin sound, technical perfection, unostentatious virtuosity and elegancy.
As recognition of his artistic and pedagogical achievements, Dénes Kovács was awarded with the Liszt Prize (1954 and 1958), the Kossuth Prize (1963), the title Merited Artist (1970) and the Bartók-Pásztory Award (1989 and 2000).