Taal:
Adams Musical Instruments - Together in Music

Szabolcs Szilágyi

Mr. Szabolcs Szilágyi was born to a family of artists. His father is an actor and his mother is a cultural manager, who works as an art gallery director.

He started studying music at the age of six in a specialised school. Singing in János Reményi’s choir was a defining experience for him. He made TV, radio and CD recordings with the choir, and, among several other prizes, they won not only the first prize in their category in 1985 at the Cork International Choral Festival in Ireland, but also the Grand Prix.
Szabolcs Szilágyi started playing the flute at the age of nine. He graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he was a student of the
late Tihamér Elek. He then went to London to continue postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Susan Milan. Meanwhile, invited by the
maestro, he attended Sir James Galway’s international seminar in Weggis, Switzerland, on several occasions.
He was supported in his studies, among others, by the Soros Foundation, New York, USA, the Pro Helvetia Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, the Royal
College of Music, London, United Kingdom and the Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.
Szabolcs Szilágyi has been a member of Concerto Budapest – formerly Hungarian Symphony Orchestra - since 1995. The orchestra’s artistic director is
András Keller, leader of the world-famous Keller String Quartet and violin professor at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London,
United Kingdom. Mr. Szilágyi played at the Frankfurt Chamber Opera in 1996/1997, and was a regular member of the Hungarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra under baton Tamás Vásáry in season 2003/2004 and Ádám Fischer in season 2006/2007.
As an orchestral musician, he has worked with such distinguished artists as conductors Kobayashi Ken Ichiro, Thierry Fischer, Yuri Simonov, Krzysztof
Penderecki, János Fürst, Gerhard Markson, Michael Halász and Zoltán Kocsis, and soloists Gidon Kremer, Sir James Galway, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Vadim
Repin, Barbara Hendricks, Boris Berezovsky, Juliane Banse, Gilles Apap, Andrea Rost, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, László Polgár, Olga Kern, Jose Cura, Bobby
McFerrin, Ildikó Komlósi and Branford Marsalis. He has toured in nearly all European countries, as well as Russia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Middle East and the USA.
He has made TV, DVD and radio recordings, as well as CD recordings for Hungaroton, BMC, Teldec/Warner and Naxos.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Szabolcs Szilágyi has performed in Hungary, among others, in the Valley of Arts, Zsámbék Jazz Open, where the
concert was broadcast live by the Hungarian Radio, Merlin Theatre, Trafó - House of Contemporary Arts, the Hungarian National Museum and Concerto Budapest’s House of Music.
Besides Concerto Budapest, he has also played with the Budapest Chamber Symphony and the Amadinda Percussion Group, with the latter’s performance recorded on CD.
His chamber music partners have included pianist László Borbély and jazz pianist Áron Tálas and guitarrist Krisztián Schweigert.
He premiered in Hungary the works of such composers as Lowell Liebermann, Mike Mower and David Heath.
In 2012 he had a solo concert at Weggis, Switzerland, at the Sir James Galway Flute Festival, where other distinguished guest artists included Denis Bouriakov, Andrea Griminelli, Philippe Bernold, Jim Walker, Raffaele Trevisani, Prof. Senqi He, Nicola Mazzanti, and Marlene Verwey.
He has been invited to participate in August 2013 to play on a recital and to take part of the Jury of the Young Artist Competition at the Annual Convention of the National Flute Association in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States.
In 2014 Mr. Szilágyi was invited to play a recital and give a Masterclass at the Musical Faculty of the School of Arts at the Renmin University of China in Beijing. In 2015 he was invited to play a recital at the Canada Flute Convention in Toronto, while in 2016 he returned to his mentor, Sir James Galway to Weggis, and played a recital and give a masterclass at the Galway Flute Festival as well.
As a highlight of the last season of the Concerto Budapest, Mr. Szilágyi played with the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, celebrating Gidon Kremers’s 70th birthday with concerts in Budapest, Beijing, Xi’an, Seoul and Taipei. During his stay in Seoul Mr. Szilágyi gave a Masterclass at the German School of Music Weimar at the Kangnam University in Yongin.
Mr. Szilágyi is the Founder and the Artistic Director of the Budapest Flute Academy.