Balkan Trafik 2010 :: 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th april
| Roby Lacatos |
 
Roby Lakatos, born in 1965 into the legendary family of gypsy violinists descended from János Bihari, was introduced to music as a child and made his public début as first violinist in a gypsy band at the age of nine. He learned his craft not only within the bosom of his own family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, where he won first prize for classical violin in 1984. Between 1986 and 1996, he and his ensemble delighted audiences at a Brussels club that became his musical home throughout this period. Since then, his career has been taken up with international concerts. He has performed at the Schleswig-Holstein, Ludwigsburg and Helsinki festivals as well as the Académies Musicales de Saintes, and has also played in New York's Central Park and with the Orchestre National de Radio France and Dresden Philharmonic. In 1998 his first CD was released by Deutsche Grammophon, with whom he is under exclusive contract. Its varied programme, including Kodály, Brahms, music from John Williams's score for Schindler's List and Charles Aznavour's La Bohème, gives a good example of his versatility. It was followed up in 1999 by another wide-ranging programme, "Lakatos: Live from Budapest". These performances, made on the occasion of the ensemble's May 1999 "homecoming" concerts at the famous Thalia Theatre, mix jazz and gypsy idioms with contemporary and classical elements.Among the other members of Roby Lakatos's ensemble are some of his oldest friends and acquaintances. The pianist Kálmán Cséki, born in 1962, initially played the cello but soon changed to his present instrument, studying classical piano with Lilly Wiedener and jazz piano with Attila Garay. On completing his studies at the Béla Bartók Conservatory, he spent eight years travelling the world with pop bands, before returning to Budapest and teaching at the Special Academy of Music. The group's second violinist, László Bóni, was born in Budapest in 1968 and studied with Roby Lakatos's father, playing in his orchestra and earning a soloist's diploma as a gypsy violinist in 1987. He then spent six months in Japan, performing with a gypsy trio that subsequently toured the whole of Europe. From 1991 to 1994 he worked in Antwerp. Ernest Bangó, born in 1968, is the son of a famous cimbalom player. Before he was allowed to take up that instrument, at the age of seven, his father had insisted that he learn to play the violin and piano. After a classical training at the Béla Bartók Conservatory, where his teachers included Ferenc Gerencsír, he eventually turned to gypsy music and in 1986 was awarded a soloist's diploma. He has appeared in Geneva, Cairo, Düsseldorf and Montreal. Oszkár Németh was born in 1966 in the Hungarian city of Eger and was only six when he joined the famous Rajko Gypsy Orchestra as a violinist. Remaining with the group until the early 1980s, he performed for Queen Elizabeth II, among other notable figures. In 1984 he took up the double bass, receiving his soloist's diploma in 1987 and playing engagements in Budapest until 1992. He has been a member of Roby Lakatos's ensemble since 1991. The guitarist ATTILA RONTÓ was born in 1969 in Miskolc, Hungary and began studying at the music academy there at the age of nine. At the same time he was taught gypsy and other types of music by his father and grandfather and, from the age of eleven, played reguarly in various ensembles. Later he became interested in jazz and studied it for four years at conservatory level, forming his own group specializing in latin jazz and flamenco. He has appeared at a number of festivals and on television and has made several other recordings. Rontó joined Roby Lakatos's ensemble in 2001. |
