JURY
4th year (2024)
Peter Michalica
Peter Michalica is one of the most important internationally renowned representatives of Slovak concert art. He studied at the Conservatory and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (prof. Ján Skladaný), at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory (prof. Jurij Jankelevich), and at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels (prof. A. Gertler). He also perfected his mastery under the guidance of the famous violinists Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Henryk Szeryng. He is a laureate of several international competitions (London, Brussels, etc.), holder of several prizes and honorary awards. He performed in recitals and solo performances with the orchestra in more than thirty countries on four continents. From 1982 to 1983, he worked as a visiting professor at Michigan State University and from 1985 to 1988 at Wayne State University in Detroit. He led various master classes in both, the USA and Europe (Boston, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, Dublin and others). For his beliefs, during normalization in 1972, he had to quit his post of the assistant at the Academy of Performing Arts. He started working at this school again in 1989. He is a violin professor at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. His repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the present. Many compositions by Slovak authors were inspired by his artistic mastery and are dedicated to him. Peter Michalica is in demand as a presenter and commentator on a range of programs, including radio and television. Also, he frequently comments in the mass media on many contemporary issues of present days.
Ákos Barra
Ákos Barra was born in Debrecen in 1982, his parents are both violinists. He obtained his diploma in 2007 at the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen at the external training of the Liszt Ferenc University of Music. He taught at the MEA music school for more than 10 years, was the first violinist and then concertmaster of the Kodály Philharmonic for 6 years, and is currently a teacher at the Kodály Zoltán Vocational High School of Music.
During his studies, he took part in many courses, e.g. In the courses of Takayoshi Wanami, Imre Rohmann, Eszter Perényi, Géza Kapás and Ernő Sebestyén. He also has a good number of competition results. In 2000, together with his partner Edina Giliga, they won the National Bartók Béla Hegedű-Duo Competition, and in 2004, at the 1st National College Meeting and Competition, they received the Level Award with their partner Eszter Pál.
During his university years, he received the Republic Scholarship in 2004, the Young Musician of the Season award at the Kodály Philharmonic in 2011, and during his teaching career, he received the Special Teacher’s Award at the Ede Zathureczky Violin Competition in 2018 and the János Koncz National Violin Competition in 2019 for his preparatory work for Lili Kovács .From September 2019, he is a teacher at the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen, and from 2022 he is a teaching assistant.Domestic and foreign orchestral activities: Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra (as concertmaster), Hungarian State Opera House Failoni Chamber Orchestra, Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, Opera Viva Obersaxen, Atlantis Chamber Orchestra, Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra (as concertmaster and soloist)He worked with such great conductors and soloists as e.g. Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Brian Fieldhouse, Ádám Medveczky, Balázs Kocsár, György Vashegyi, Tamás Vásáry, Mladen Tarbuk, Oliver von Dohnányi, Karolos Trikolidis, Kristóf Baráti, Barnabás Kelemen, Gergely Bogányi, István Váradi, José Carreras.He toured most countries in Europe and China several times.From September 2021, he is a student at the Doctoral School of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs.
Peter Strenáčik
Peter Strenáčik was born in Lučenec. He studied violin at the Conservatory in Košice in the class of Koloman Takács. After graduation, he continued his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. His pedagogues were excellent teachers – Ján Skladaný, Jela Špitková and Albín Vrteľ. After graduation, he joined the State Opera in Banská Bystrica, where he worked for 15 years, mostly as the principal second violin. At the same time, he taught violin at the Primary Art School of Ján Cikker in Banská Bystrica. In 1992, when the the Conservatory of Ján Levoslav Bella was founded, he accepted a teaching position and he worked there for 25 years as a violin teacher and for a long time as the head of the string department. He was also at the birth of the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, where he lead the Department of Orchestral Instruments for a quarter of a century. Today, many of his students are now active at home and abroad as soloists, chamber players, or orchestral players and they teach at art schools. Peter Strenáčik is a regular member of expert committees of regional and national violin competitions.
He is the co-founder of the International Violin Competition Prime Violin.
Copyright Kateryna Popovych 2024
prime violin