CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Roby Lakatos And Friends

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 8:00 PM

Roby Lakatos, Violin
Iva Bittová, Violin/Vocals
Michel Camilo, Piano
Myriam Fuks, Vocalist

Celebrating Hungary is sponsored by Erste Group.

Program Notes:


Jeff Tamarkin on
ROBY LAKATOS

Simply calling Roby Lakatos a “Gypsy violinist” is a little like saying Tiger Woods is a guy who knocks a ball around with a stick: There is so much more to the virtuoso Hungarian musician than the insufficient tag that is usually affixed to his name. While there is no denying Lakatos’s pedigree, descended from the legendary Romany violinist Janos Bihari (1764‧–1827), Lakatos has always sought to expand the parameters of what is generally considered Gypsy music. By incorporating elements of jazz (performing with Herbie Hancock and others), classical (Zubin Mehta, and Sir Yehudi Menuhin before him, have praised the violinist), and various international forms into his own compositions, Lakatos has channeled the wanderlust of the Romany and elevated the Gypsy music tradition, coaxing it to adapt to modern times.

Lakatos has been called, undoubtedly due to his incendiary delivery on his chosen instrument, “the devil’s fiddler.” He was born in 1965 and attended the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, where he won first prize for classical violin in 1984. Since then he has toured the world and recorded with a wide array of greats. His albums reflect his diversity: Roby Lakatos with Musical Friends is an all-jazz project that teams the legend with giants of that genre, including the American trumpeter Randy Brecker and French guitarist Marc Fosset, as well as fellow violin icons Stephane Grappelli and Vadim Repin. On Klezmer Karma, Lakatos delves into the beloved Yiddish music genre; As Time Goes By features Lakatos’s interpretation of film classics; and Fire Dance draws from mariachi, French, and Japanese music, and bossa nova.


—Jeff Tamarkin is the Associate Editor of JazzTimes magazine.

© 2009 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Roby Lakatos, Violin
Virtuoso fiddler Roby Lakatos is not only a scorching player, but a musician of extraordinary stylistic versatility. Equally comfortable performing classical, jazz, and his native Hungarian folk idiom, Lakatos is a musician who defies definition. His unparalleled technique places Lakatos among the best players in the world, but his musical curiosity and Roma heritage make him truly unique. He is the kind of musician rarely encountered in our time. Conjuring a 19th century sense of romanticism, Lakatos displays strength as an interpreter that derives from his experience as a composer and arranger, an improviser, a band leader, and consummate listener.

Born in 1965 into the legendary family of Gypsy violinists descended from Janos Bihari, “King of Gypsy Violinists,” Roby Lakatos was introduced to music as a child; at age nine he made his public debut as first violin in a Gypsy band. His musicianship evolved not only within his own family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest, where he won the first prize for classical violin in 1984. Between 1986 and 1996, he and his ensemble delighted audiences at Les Atéliers de la grande Ille in Brussels—their their musical home throughout this period. It was also here where he collaborated with Vadim Repin and Stéphane Grappelli, and his playing was greatly admired by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who always made a point of visiting the club in Brussels to hear Lakatos.

In 2006 Lakatos and his ensemble toured North America for the first time, including a sold-out New York City debut at Carnegie Hall. Recent US highlights include an appearance with the Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony and the Florida International Festival in Daytona Beach.
In 2004 Lakatos appeared to great acclaim with the London Symphony Orchestra in the Genius of the Violin festival alongside Maxim Vengerov.

Lakatos regularly appears on Hungarian and Belgian television, and has been invited for productions on German television as well as Deutschlandradio, NHK Japan, and London’s BBC. He also tours with his own chamber orchestra, conducted by Dirk Verelst.

Lakatos has performed at the great halls and festivals of Europe and Asia, including Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Radio France and the Dresden Philharmonic. When Zubin Mehta first heard Lakatos, he spontaneously invited him to perform as a guest in a production of Die Fledermaus at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich.

In 1998 his first CD was released by Deutsche Grammophon. Entitled Lakatos, it included works by Kodály and Brahms, as well as music from John William’s score for Schindler's List and Charles Aznavour’s La Bohème. Another eclectic CD followed in 1999, Lakatos: Live from Budapest, mixing jazz and Gypsy idioms with contemporary and classical elements. As Time Goes By was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2002, including masterpieces from films such as Fiddler on the Roof and Once Upon a Time in America in spectacular arrangements by Kalman Cséki and Lakatos. The newest CD, Fire Dance, is available on the Avantijazz label.

Iva Bittová, Violin/Vocals
Iva Bittová was born in 1958 in what is now the Czech Republic. Both of her parents were musicians. Her mother, Ludmila, was a pre-school teacher who spent most of her life with her family; her father, Koloman Bitto (Bittová is the surname’s female form), was a musician strongly influenced by the land of his birth, southern Slovakia. His main instruments were string bass, cimbalom, guitar, and trumpet. His ability to play almost any instrument he laid his hands on—whether performing in classical or folk music styles—proved to be a major influence on his daughter.

A young Iva attended drama preschool, specializing in violin and ballet. In due course she gained admittance to the Music Conservatory in Brno, Czech Republic. During her studies, Iva took part-time engagements as an actress and musician in Brno’s Divadlo Husa na provázku (Goose on a String Theater). She cites these engagements as some of the most formative and influential of her life.

Around this time Bittová was also featured as an actress on radio, TV, and film. After her father’s early death, she decided to follow in his footsteps as an instrumentalist and by composing her own music. She soon rekindled her interest in the violin, an instrument she had set aside many years before. In 1982 Bittová began studying with Rudolf Stastny, the primarius (concertmaster) of the Moravian String Quartet. The violin has since become her life’s passion and the most inspiring musical instrument in her professional life.

After living in the countryside near Brno for 17 years, Bittová decided to relocate to the US. In the summer of 2007, she settled amid the splendors of nature in upstate New York where she shares her Hudson Valley home with her younger son Antonín.

In Bittová’s own words: “For many years, I have worked in a range of musical genres, including jazz, rock, classical, and opera. Deciding on a name for my style of music is far from over. Whatever it is, many of my listeners have long considered it highly original. It has always been everyday life that inspired my music and interpretations. Its inspiration has been total silence and an absolutely positive atmosphere. Those are the most important conditions and surroundings in which my ideas spring to life. I believe they have a significant impact on my music.

“The violin accompanies me all the time. Everything around me is under its influence. There are difficult pieces to practice from which I gain discipline, confidence, and self–control—and a healthy measure of doubt. The violin is a mirror reflecting my dreams and imagination. I believe there are fundamentals to my performance, such as the music’s vibration and resonance between the violin and my voice. Their ‘symphony’ leads me on to perfection, even though I know it never can be attained.”

Michel Camilo, Piano
A pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who flavors his tunes with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies, Michel Camilo’s musical language is an expressive and exciting combination. His music is mainstream jazz first and foremost, propelled by an infectious, contemporary sense of swing that reflects his joyously effervescent personality. He also moves with ease between the worlds of Latin, Flamenco, and classical music.

Camilo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory and became a member of the National Symphony Orchestra at the age of 16. He moved to New York in 1979 to continue his studies at Mannes College The New
School For Music and The Juilliard School. Since his 1985 Carnegie Hall debut, he has become a prominent musical figure, performing regularly at festivals throughout the US, Europe, Israel, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean.

To date, his 18 recordings have been recognized with a Grammy, an Emmy, two Latin Grammys, and two Premios de la Música (Spain). Other highlights of Camilo’s career include a five-year tenure as musical director of the Heineken Jazz Festival (Dominican Republic), president of the jury at the Montreux Jazz Solo Piano competition, coartistic
director of the first Latin-Caribbean Music Festival at the Kennedy Center where he performed the world premier of his Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, and artist-in-residence at the 2007 Kavier Piano Festival Ruhr. He has also been featured in the award-winning Latin jazz documentary Calle 54, and was voted among the Top 10 Jazz Pianists of the Year by the 69th annual DownBeat Reader’s Poll.

Guest engagements with prestigious orchestras include the National, Atlanta, Madrid, Navarra, Puerto Rico, and RTVE symphony orchestras; Cleveland and Gulbenkian orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra; National Orchestra of Spain; National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic; Orquestra de Cadaqués; Barcelona
Symphony; and Copenhagen and Indiana University philharmonic orchestras, among others. He has recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Decca/Universal) and with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (Telarc).

Camilo’s honors include honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music (Boston), Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, UTESA University of Santiago, as well as an honorary professorship from Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
The Dominican Government has also awarded Mr. Camilo its highest civilian honors: the Silver Cross of the Order of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella; and Knight of the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus.

Myriam Fuks, Vocalist