Genius of the Violin, Lakatos brings new excitement to Spokane

Nov 1, 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

SPOKANE: Gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos, Genius of the Violin who has set the concert houses Europe ablaze, will be performing in Spokane on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. with the Spokane Symphony at the INB Performing Arts Center. He will be accompanied by his ensemble featuring guitar, bass, piano and cimbalom. Together, they will give a electrifying performance with charm and flamboyance.
Lakatos is musician of incredible intensity and versatility, a scorching virtuoso. Master of his own Hungarian folk idiom, he is equally comfortable performing jazz and classical music, defying definition. Lakatos has been called a gypsy violinist or a devil's fiddler, a classical virtuoso, a jazz improviser, a composer and arranger, and a 19th-century throwback in the style of Paganini. In reality, he is all theses things, a universal musician so rarely encountered in our time—a player whose strength as an interpreter derives from his activities as an improviser and composer.
Lakatos career, which began at age nine, reflects this broad spectrum of musical experience. Born into the legendary gypsy violinist family descended from Janos Bihari, King of Gypsy Violinists, Roby Lakatos began his musical career as a first violinist in a gypsy band. He studied at the Bla 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 Atliers de la Grande Ille" in Brussels, their musical home throughout this period.
Lakatos has performed at the great halls and festivals of Europe, Asia and America, including Carnegie Hall, and has recorded more than 10 albums. He collaborated with musical greats, including Vadim Repin, Stphane Grappelli, and Maxim Vengerov. In addition, he has restored to audiences the exhilarating blend of so-called "classical music" with Hungarian-gypsy vitality, in the tradition of Liszt, Brahms and others who used the Hungarian overtones in their compositions. The Los Angeles Times hails his performance as ... a stunning display of finger-blurring virtuosity. "With superb panache, Lakatos and his Ensemble offer an electrifying program of authentic Gypsy music filled with tenderness, passion and delicacy.
A violinists' violinist, Lakatos was greatly admired by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who always made a point of going to hear him in Brussels. Other violinists have called him an unbelievable violinist whose fingering has to be seen to be believed... There is no one else on this planet that can... match the speed of this guys' playing.... If anyone gets the opportunity to see him live, they should definitely take it. (Violinist.com) The London Daily Telegraph says of his playing: ...his immense control and exuberant inventiveness defied belief. I doubt whether I've ever seen a musician of such calm strength and charisma.
The Strolling Strings from East Valley Schools will be playing in the lobby before the concert.

Tickets range from $17 to $39 and are available Monday through Friday from 9:30-5:00 p.m. at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at 818 West Riverside Avenue or by calling (509) 624-1200. Tickets are also available on weekends and evenings, with a service charge, at www.spokanesymphony.org or through TicketsWest at 325-SEAT or 1-800-325-SEAT.