Barnabás Kelemen

BARNABÁS KELEMEN (Hungarian violinist) is soloist chamber musician and conductor. He began violin studies at age six and entered the Franz Liszt Academy of Music at eleven, and later taking masterclasses with Isaac Stern, Ferenc Rados, György Kurtág, and Zoltán Kocsis. Kelemen has won major international prizes, including First Prize at the 1999 International Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg and the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, as well as Third Prize at the 2001 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels. As a soloist, Kelemen performs in the world’s leading concert halls. His repertoire spans baroque, classical, and romantic works, he is giving premieres of pieces by composers such as Kurtág, Ligeti, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, and Steve Reich. A devoted chamber musician, Kelemen founded the Kelemen Quartet with his wife Katalin Kokas, winning major international competitions. His extensive discography has earned critical acclaim and prestigious awards, including a Gramophone Award for his recording of Bartók’s violin sonatas and Grand Prix du Disque and Diapason d’Or honors for recordings of Liszt, Brahms, and Mozart. He has been a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest since 2005 and has also taught at the University of Cologne and as a guest professor at institutions such as Indiana University. He regularly gives masterclasses around the world and serves on juries of major international competitions. He currently performs on the historic „ex-Dénes Kovács“ Guarneri del Gesú violin (1742), generously on loan from the Hungarian State.