Vilmos Szabasi is a Distinguished Artist of Hungary. He has been a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy since 1985 and won the Bartók Pásztory Prize in 2018.In 1982, he won first prize (with special mention) in the Hungarian Radio competition, and in 1983, the Hubay competition in Budapest.In 1985, he received first prize in the Jean Sibelius Competition in Finland, and since then has been invited to play and give masterclasses more than 100 times.Vilmos is often invited to participate on the juries of leading international competitions in Singapore, Hannover, and Italy, among others. He was one of the founders of the Bartók Competition in Hungary (2017).
To date, he has recorded 60 CDs / LPs / CDVs on various labels. He is a two-time winner (1999, 2002) of the prestigious MIDEM Festival in Cannes, France, awarded by the international jury, which chose these records from over 1000 CDs from around the world, with his CD of Dohnányi’s Violin Concertos and with the recording of Bartók’s Sonatas (with Márta Gulyás).
He often gives masterclasses in Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Greece, Japan, Korea, Singapore, USA and Canada. In 2012 he was awarded the “PRIMA” prize as musician of the year, in 1999 he received the HUNGAROTON prize, and in 1993 the “Franz Liszt” prize awarded by the Hungarian Government.His career as an international concert violinist took off when Sir Georg Solti invited him to perform Bartók’s Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2 during the Bartók Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1988. The success of the concert, and the CD-video released by PHILIPS, opened the doors to invitations from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and the RTE Concert Orchestra (Ireland), among others.He was invited to Buckingham Palace for the celebration of Sir Georg Solti’s 80th birthday, representing Hungary. Subsequently, he offered a recital at the National Auditorium in Madrid, playing with the Royal Strad Collection alongside Maestro Bashkirov and Maestro Monighetti.Currently, he plays a Laurentius Storioni violin from 1778, an instrument that, thanks to the intervention of Maestro Zubin Mehta, was granted to him by the Hungarian government.He is Hungary’s most prominent violinist, a frequent guest in the rest of the world. He has played in places such as New York (United Nations Building), National Gallery of Art in Washington, London (Wigmore, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall), Cardiff (St. David), Belfast (Ulster), Dublin (National Concert Hall), Moscow (Bolshoi Hall), St. Petersburg (Philharmonic Hall), Brussels (Théâtre Saint-Michel), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Turin (RAI Auditorium), Madrid (Auditorio Nacional), Zaragoza, Valladolid, Santander, Paris (Châtelet, Conservatoire), Vienna (Konzerthaus, Musikverein), Stuttgart (Liederhalle – Mozart/Beethoven Saals), Lisbon/Madeira (Portugal), Helsinki (Finland), Tampere, Turku, Kuhmo, Toronto, Montreal (Canada), Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo), South Korea (Seoul, Pousan, Daegu), Taiwan (Taipei National Concert Hall), Singapore, Vietnam (Hanoi, National Concert Hall, Saigon/Opera).
