Q: What makes this prize special?

A: Among the honors I have received for my classical music recordings, this is the most respectable one. A third Hungarian, Peter Eotvos [Péter Eötvös] has received the same award in the concerto category.

Q: During the honors ceremony in London you and your wife, violinist Katalin Kokas had the opportunity to perform [from Bartk's 44 Duos for Two Violins, see here]. You seem to be a regular guest in London, don’t you?

A: A few days after the honors ceremony the Kelemen Quartet [Barnabas Kelemen, Gabor Homoki, Katalin Kokas and Dora Kokas] played in London’s Wigmore Hall. [See an earlier recording of the quartet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdmxrfQA32M] Next year I will return to the Wigmore Hall and have several sonata and other recitals in the United Kingdom. November 27, 2013, I will play in the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic. [Programme: Krzysztof Penderecki: Violin Concerto No.1and Henryk Górecki: Symphony No.3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), Op.36]

Q: On October 1, International Music Day, you performed Violin Concerto No.5 in A major, K.219 in the Palace of Arts [MUPA] in Budapest. How far ahead do you plan your concert timetable?

A: Some of my performances are scheduled for as far ahead as 2016. It’s important for me that on October 23, 2015 – which is a national holiday in Hungary – the Kelemen Quartet will give a concert in the Carnegie Hall in New York.

Q: Alongside touring foreign countries you’re an instructor at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. Are some of the students really gifted?

A: Yes indeed. There are really talented ones every year. The difficult question is whether several criteria are met simultaneously: family support, tutorial encouragement, social capital and luck. Until age 16 it depends on the parents whether a teenager spends enough time practicing.

Q: In Hungary it is a controversial issue that the Kodaly method is not applied in schools any more. Do you see the consequences of that omission on your students?

A: It doesn’t affect my students because they attended extracurricular classes to study music. However I find it regrettable that even in primary schools specializing in music there are only three music lessons weekly and in the rest of the schools usually there is only one. In Hungary music education should be treated as a Hungaricum, that is, a national asset. Even at times that were really tough, Kodaly could persuade educational authorities to provide for music lessons nearly every day.

Q: Now that in Hungarian primary schools a physical education class is supposed to be held every day, how do you think school could handle that many music lessons?

A: That is a question of organization that educational experts should discuss. Choir singing and group dancing are wonderful experiences for children. They are beneficial for their psychological development and socialization. Look at the international impact of Hungarian composers like Liszt, Bartók, Gyorgy Kurtág, Peter Eotvos or Gyorgy Ligeti. Compared to the size of its population, Hungary is a musical great power. Such a heritage should be both protected and fostered.

Q: Does Hungary still have good music teachers?

A: The generation of music teachers that is ready to make extra efforts to train gifted students even if they get no extra compensation for that is still in the active age. But within a short time another generation will replace them, young teachers who will not make extra efforts without compensation if they can make more money elsewhere. That is why, for instance, so many Hungarian doctors are now working abroad. One can only guess for how long the music teachers tolerate the present situation. What they have done for the youngsters is priceless.

Q: Nowadays you can access practically all music on recordings. How does that affect the future of live concerts?

A: Live concerts do have a future especially because of the wealth of musical recordings. We are busy establishing a music salon in the Palace District (Palotanegyed) in District Eight of Budapest. Our music salon will be a center for many strands of art. In our vision it will be a space of culture where concerts, readings of literature and exhibitions can attract performing artists, fine artists, scholars, historians, literary scholars and physicians alike. Actually there has been a renewed demand for live concerts. Personal meetings are as important as ever.

Source: Heti Válasz

Translated by Budapest Telegraph