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Cello
As a member of a musicians’ dynasty, it was no question if I should learn to play an instrument. My mom chose cello for me, and I went to music school at the age of five. Although I din not like practicing at all at that time, I learned not only the cello but also the piano. Later, during my secondary school years, László Szilvásy and his charisma kept me on this track. His vision, knowledge, together with kindness and benevolence impressed me.
But it was a time when I was interested in so many things at the same time, I could not decide with what to deal with later. After secondary school, I got admitted to the Faculty of Law, but instead of starting it, I decided to dedicate the following year to getting prepared for the entrance exam of the Liszt Academy. Beside music, I was interested in other areas as well, so at the end of my first year at the academy, I got admitted to the Corvinus University of Budapest. I studied there for a year, which gave me great experiences. It was the case during my six months of an Erasmus scholarship in Glasgow. Having returned form there, at a music festival, I got acquainted with a violinist girl, who is my bride now. Happiness and playing music belong together in my life.
During my years at the Liszt Academy, everything changed in me: I became more open to the wonders Ottó Kertész showed me. He not only perfected my technique but became my role model. What he is capable of cannot be taught or copied, only observed. This is why I am grateful to fate that he asked me to join the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, where, for five years now, I have been playing and learning beside him.
If any student of the Liszt Academy were told to joint the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra after graduation, he or she would say at once: “great, when can I start”?
I still feel privileged to be here. Yet, as everything in life, it is so different from what one imagines beforehand. It is like, just to say an example, as I told you that we travelled to a beautiful countryside with snowy cliffs, green trees and quietly running streams. You imagine what it will be like; but when you are finally there, you see a totally different landscape. Yet, the statement is true, you are wandering on the same beautiful land.
This is what the Chamber Orchestra means to me. I found great colleagues and friends here, and I am willing to make the band even greater and more famous, together with the others.
(Notes by Sarolta Gálfi / www.azember.hu)