Happy Birthday, Kristóf Baráti!

Today is the Hungarian violin virtuoso's 44th birthday!

Baráti was born into a musical family in Budapest in 1979, he inherited his passion for music from both his mother, a violinist, and his father, a cellist. Under his mother's tutelage, he embarked on his musical journey at five years old.

During his formative years, Baráti spent a significant portion of his childhood in Venezuela, where he commenced his performance career with Venezualen orchestras at eight years old. At eleven, he was invited to give a recital at the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, France.

Baráti returned to Hungary to pursue formal education at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Miklós Szenthelyi and Vilmos Tátra, the esteemed founder of the renowned Tátrai Quartet. During this period, he won the Lipizer Competition held in Italy and was awarded second place at the Long-Thibaud Competition hosted in Paris.

In 1996, he ventured to Paris to study under Professor Eduard Wulfson. Wulfson, a protege of Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein, and Henryk Szeryng, imparted the invaluable standards and insights passed down through generations of musical excellence.

In 1997 Baráti won third prize and the audience prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition, marking him as the youngest finalist.

In recent years, Baráti has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2019 he was the featured soloist of Verbier Festival's opening concert.

Baráti has played with the world's most esteemed orchestras, including the Zurich Tonhalle, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Israel Philharmonic, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Camerata Salzburg, Russian National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Sao Paolo Symphony and the Hague Philharmonic orchestras.

In recent years Baráti has become increasingly active as a conductor. One of the most exciting projects of his 23/24 season will be his concert with Concerto Budapest featuring Russian pianist Mikhail Pletnov as soloist.

He currently performs on the 1703 Lady Harmsworth Stradivarius, on loan to him by the Stradivarius Society of Chicago. 

KRISTOF BARÁTI & THUY-ANH VUONG | MAURICE RAVEL | TZIGANE