The Hungarian clarinetist Zoltán Kovács, born 1977 in Pásztó, Hungary, began playing the clarinet at the early age of 7. He began his musical studies in Budapest, Hungary at the Béla Bartók Music Conservatory (1992) and the Franz Liszt Music Academy (1996) and finished in Freiburg, Germany 2001 with a Performance Diploma from the Musikhochschule Freiburg under the renowned clarinetist Professor Dieter Klöcker. His postgraduate Diploma followed 2003 under the well known composer Professor Jörg Widmann.

Zoltán Kovács musical career however, began much earlier as a repeated award winner in Hungarian national and international woodwind competitions. In 1996 he was awarded the first prize in the ''Concertino Prag'' international competition. In 2000 he received the ''Carl-Seeman Scholarship Award'' from the Freiburg Conservatory and a further scholarship from the German Society of Cultural Arts. For his outstanding achievements in chamber music he was awarded a four year scholarship grant (2001-2004) to participate in the renowned German chamber music courses ''Villa Musica''.

Zoltán Kovács performed with leading orchestras under such distinguished conductors as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Péter Eötvös and Heinz Holliger. He also plays regularly with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, has solo-performances with the Prager Chamber Orchestra and is a regular guest soloist with such renowned European ensembles as the Ensemble Ascolta, the Ensemble Modern, the Minguet Quartet and the Ensemble Consortium Classicum, as well as at many significant European music-festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling, the Schumannfestival Düsseldorf, the European Musicfestival Stuttgart, the Schumannfest Zwickau and the Inselfestival Hombroich.

With his own ensembles, the Faunus Woodwind Quintet, the Eusebius and the Kovács Trio, Zoltán Kovács regularly offers a wide repertoire of chamber music in all instrumental arrangements and styles. Zoltán Kovács own extensive repertoire includes over 300 compositions written for clarinet, ranging from early classic to avantgarde and including all solo-pieces. Having spent many years of intensive studies on Hungarian music, Zoltán Kovács also places a special emphasis on compositions from his native land. He has a special interest in contemporary music and has played many “debut-performances” for composers such as Hans Tutschku, Dorothee Eberhardt, Johannes Motschmann and Marcell Dargay.

 

Zoltán Kovács performances on both radio and television (Hungarian State Radio, Deutschlandradio Berlin, Bavarian Radio, WDR Cologne, MDR Erfurt and SWR Freiburg) further document his exceptional musical qualities. He also participated in the film ''Music Debut'' in 2003. His recordings include the CD ''Clarinet XXth Century'' (ARTS Label 2002), in which he plays works by Bohuslav Martinu and Olivier Messiaen. In 2004 the Faunus Quintet recorded its debut-CD and in 2006 Zoltán can be heard playing ''Nowhere'' on John Palmers Portrait-CD (Sargasso Label).In 2008 the Portrait-CD with „Pasitos“from Dorothee Eberhardt (Cavalli Records) was published. In addition to his manifold musical performances and activities, Zoltán Kovács still took the time to give Master classes in Hungary, Spain and Germany. Since 2008 he is professor at the Chambermusiccourse from the German Mozart-Society. He become - on the regular terms – a member of various music competition panels; among other The Chamber Music Competition of Friedrich-Jürgen-Sellheim Society. He has been teaching at the Academy of Music Trossingen since 2005.

 

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