Roby Lakatos – King of the Gypsy Violinists

Roby Lakatos, dynamic primas (lead violin) from the legendary Hungarian dynasty of gypsy fiddlers: whether he’s playing classical music or jazz, gypsy melodies or an improvisation, Lakatos transcends all categories as he cultivates a unique personal style. He has appeared with his ensemble at all the great international festivals of Europe, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, China – and, on 14 February, at Abu Dhabi Classics in the Emirates Palace. His very biography predestines Roby Lakatos as an artist for Abu Dhabi Classics. No one else simultaneously embodies the traditions of classical music, jazz and the nomads and gypsies. His most celebrated ancestor composed many of the Hungarian melodies later made famous by Liszt and Brahms, and may even have written the beloved Rákóczi March. Roby Lakatos appears with jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock and Till Brönner and with classical violinists like Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov. He is as much at home on the stage of New York’s Carne-gie Hall as in London’s legendary Ronnie Scott’s Club. When Zubin Mehta, conductor-in-residence of Abu Dhabi Classics, first heard Lakatos play the violin, he was so excited that he spontaneously engaged him as a surprise guest in a New Year’s Eve performance of the operetta "Die Fledermaus" at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.