Zoltán Kocsis, Hungarian pianist, Died at 64

  Music

Zoltán Kocsis was born on May 30, 1952, in Budapest and died on November 5, 2016.

He was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist, conductor, and composer.

He started his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 1963, studying piano and composition.

During 1968, Kocsis was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág, graduating in 1973.

Kocsis won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year.

Zoltán Kocsis received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978.

He was notable as a great pianist, he performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia of London, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Zoltán Kocsis recorded the complete solo piano works and works with piano and orchestra of Béla Bartók.

During 1990, his recording of Debussy’s Images won “The Gramophone” Instrumental Award for that year.

He won another in 2013 in the chamber category with Bartók works.

The American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis’ technique and piano tone.

Kocsis co-founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983.

Zoltán Kocsis was the musical director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic.

Zoltán Kocsis passed away at 64 years old.